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MEDLEVAL AND MODERN 



SAINTS AND MIRACLES. 



NOT 



AB UNO E SOCIETATE JESU. 




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or WA$H\ 



NEW YORK: 
HARPER ifc BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

FEANKLIN SQUARE. 

1876. 

(7? . 




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by 

HARPER & BROTHERS, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



i ^ 



PREFACE. 



Many American Protestants are inclined to look 
with favor, or at least with indulgence, on the pre- 
tensions of Catholicism; and not a few have been 
persuaded to exchange the Scriptural faith and the 
simple ritual of their fathers for the traditions, the 
dogmas, and the gaudy material worship of the Rom- 
ish Church. The writer believes that such persons, 
and indeed the general American public, are very 
imperfectly informed respecting the actual teachings 
of modern Romanism, the intellectual, moral, social, 
and political tendencies of those teachings, and the 
real aims of the leaders of the party which inspires 
and controls the policy of the Vatican. Romish 
proselytism is dexterous in adapting itself to the va- 
ried mental and spiritual conditions of its pupils. 
Its pulpit and its printed manuals are not its only, 
or even its most efficient, instruments. Its individ- 
ual private appeals, whether from lay or ecclesiastical 
agents, and especially its schools^ are most powerful 
in misleading the weak, the wavering, and the young ; 
and the secret lessons of the confessional are an ir- 



4 Preface, 

resistible means of confirming and strengthening the 
but half-converted neophyte. It distorts the truth 
by silent suppression, by artful equivocation, and not 
rarely by unscrupulous denial of damaging fact, 
which its ministers know the objector has not at 
hand the means of establishing. The evidence re- 
specting the real doctrines and history of the Eomish 
Church is often to be found only in voluminous col- 
lections rare in Protestant countries, or in works ex- 
isting only in foreign languages, and hence altogeth- 
er inaccessible to the general reader; and the in- 
quirer is constantly baffled by the want of sufficient 
evidence to meet the bold denial or affirmation of the 
propagandist on his own ground. 

The writer thinks he will render a service to the 
cause of truth by laying before the public, in a popu- 
lar form, facts not familiarly known to American and 
English readers, but which have an important bear- 
ing on the claims to universal spiritual and temporal 
dominion expressly or virtually advanced by Rome. 
He has been careful to draw his statements and illus- 
trations from sources undeniably trustworthy, and, in 
neai'ly all cases, recognized by the Church itself as 
authoritative. The Latin documents in the Appen- 
dix are for the use of ecclesiastical students. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

I. Fkom the Patristic to the Jesuit Age 11 

II. From the Founding of the Society of Jesus to the 

Keign of Pius IX 65 

III. EoMiSH Hagiologt under Pope Pius IX 107 

IV. Mariolatry in France. — Conclusion 152 



APPENDIX : 

I. Ecclesiastical Forgeries 207 

11. Opinion in Catholic Countries on Relations be- 
tween Church and State 213 

III. The Brothers of Co^iUvioN Life 216 

IV. The Inquisition at Rome 218 

V. Papal Approval of Condemnation of Huss 226 

VI. Papal Remonstrances against the Abolition of 

THE Forum EcclesiasticuoVI 227 

VII. Romish Opposition to the Translation of the 

Scriptures into Modern Languages 229 

VIII. The Edict of Nantes, and its Revocation 230 

IX. The '^Monita Secreta" Societatis Jesu 240 

X. Suppression of Books by the Priests 241 



Contents. 



PAGE 

XI. Letter from the Saviour to a Girl of St. Mar- 
cel, IN France 244 

XII. The Romish Church under the Reign of Pius 

IX 245 



BOOKS EEFEEEED TO IN THE FOLLOW- 
ING PAGES. 



PART I. 

Maury, Alfred, Essai sur les L6gendes Pieuses du Moyen-Age. 

Paris, 1843, 8vo. 
Newman, J. H., The Miracles of Scripture compared with those 

reported Elsewhere. London, 1873. 
The Miracles of Early Ecclesiastical History compared with 

those of Scripture. London, 1873. 
Benedicti XIV., Pont. Opt. Max., Opus de Servorum Dei Beati- 

ficatione et Beatorum Canon izatione. Prati, mdcccxxxiv., 

7 vols. 4to. 
RiBADiNEiR^, E. p. Petri, Societatis Jesu : Flos Sanctorum, 6 

Libro de las Vidas de los Santos. Madrid, 1599-1601, 2 

vols, folio. 
Flos Sanctorum, seu Yitse et Ees Gestae Sanctorum, Latin^ 

traductsB, additis utilissimis Annotationibus et Sanctorum 

Vitis recentioribus, a R. P. Jacobo Canisio, Soc. Jesu. 

Presb. Colonise Agrippinae, mdccxli., 3 vols, folio. 
Vita del Venerabile Servo di Dio, P. Giuseppe Anchieta, della 

Compagnia di Gesu, detto TApostolo del Brasile, curata da' 

Processi autentici formati per la sua Beatificazione. Eoma, 

MDCCXXXVIII., 8vo. 

Eev. D. Francesco di Lucia, Eelazione Istorica della Trasla- 
zione del Sagro Corpo, e Miracoli di Santa Filomena. Be- 
nevento, 1834, 3 vols. 8vo. 



8 Boohs referred to in the following Pages. 

Goodwin, Thomas, D.D., Christ Set Forth, together with a 
Treatise discovering the Affectionate Tenderness of Christ^s 
Heart in Heaven unto Sinners on Earth. London, 1642, 
12mo. 

Languet, Jos., La Vie de la v^n^rable Mere MarguMte Marie, 
Religieuse de La Visitation, nomm6e dans le Monde Marie 
Alacoque. Paris, 1729, 4to. 

AssELiNE, Louis, Marie Alacoque et le Sacr6 Coeur. Paris, 
1873, 12mo. 



PART 11. 

S. Alfonso De' Liguori, Le Glorie di Maria. Bassano, 1852, 

2 vols. 12mo. 
Confessore Diretto per le Confessioni della Gente di Cam- 

pagna. Monza, 1825, 1 vol. 8vo. 
F. Agostinho de Santa Maria, Santuario Mariano e Historia 

das Imagens Milagrosas de Nossa Senhora. Lisboa, 1707, 

10 vols. 4to. 
R. P. M. F. Ambrogio Landucoi, Origine del Tempio dedicato 

in Roma alia Vergiue Madre di Dio presso alia Porta del 

Popolo. Roma, 1646, 4to. 
Narrazlone del Prodigio avvenuto nella Santa Imagine di Maria 

Vergine di Rimini, estratta dair autentico Processo compi- 

lato dair Ecclesiastica Curia della detta Citta. Rimini, 

1851, 8vo. 



PART III. 

Berthier, le P^re, Notre Dame de La Salette, Pelerinage de 

1872. Paris, 1872, 12mo. 
Nau, TAbb^, L' Apparition de La Salette, envisage dans ses 

Consequences. Paris, 1861, 12mo. 



Boohs referred to in the following Pages, 9 

Hendrick Lasserre, Onze Lieve Vrouw van Lourdes. Gent^ 

1873, 8vo. 
Keller, Smile, L'Encyclique du 8 D6ceinbre 1864 et les Prin- 

cipes de 1789. 



PART IV. 

VitsB Patrum. — De Yit^ et Verbis Seniorum, sive Historise Ere- 

miticse Libri X. Antverpise, 1628, folio. 
Rosweydi, Heriberti, e Societate Jesu, De Fide Hsereticis ser- 

yanda*. Antverpise, 1610, 8vo. 
RiBADiNEiRA, P. Pedro, Flos Sanctorum, 6 Libro de las Vidas 

de los Santos. Madrid, 1599-1601, 2 vols, folio. 
Generelle Legende der Heylighen, door H. Rosweyde. Ant- 

verpiae, 1686, 2 vols, folio. 
Flos Sanctorum, sen Vitae et Res Gestae Sanctorum, primtim 

Hispanice conscriptae, nunc vero Latin^ traductae, additis 

utilissimis Annotationibus et Sanctorum Vitis recentiori- 

bus, a R. P. Jacobo Canisio, Soc. Jes. Presb. Coloniae 

Agrippinae, mdcclxi., 3 vols, folio. 
Reverendi Fratris Jacobi de Voragine, de Sanctorum Legen- 

dis. Opus perutile. Venetiis, mcccclxxxiii., 1 vol. folio. 
Acta Sanctorum, quotquot toto orbe coluntur. 1663-1867, 60 

vols, folio. 
D. Giuseppe Cozza, Delia Vita, Miracoli e Culto del Martire 

Pietro de Arbues. Roma, 1867, 1 vol. 8vo. 

1* 



MEDIEVAL AND MODERN SAINTS 
AND MIRACLES. 



FROM THE PATRISTIO TO THE JESUIT AGE. 

The ancient book of legends entitled " Yitse Pa- 
trura, sive HistorisG Eremeticse/' is characterized by 
Mr. Lecky, in a note to the fourth chapter of his " His- 
tory of European Morals," as an " invaluable collec- 
tion," and as " one of the most fascinating volumes 
in the whole range of literature." 

The " Yitae Patrum " is the most ancient, the most 
attractive, and the most important, though not the 
most voluminous, work of Christian legendary lore. 
It has probably had a wider circulation than any oth- 
er monument of saintly history ; and during the ages 
which elapsed from the period when its materials 
were first gathered until near the close of the thir- 
teenth century — when the " Legenda Aurea," a very 
inferior compilation, at least partially superseded it — 



12 Mediaeval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

the " Vitse Patrum " was the chief source of informa- 
tion, in all European countries, respecting the mythic 
and heroic ages of the Christian Church. 

We say the mythic and heroic ages of the Church, 
because the genuine hagiological annals of the early 
post-apostolic centuries are plainly distinguishable, in 
literary and critical character, both from the accounts 
of the origin and founding of Christianity contained 
in the Gospels and the Acts, and from the fabulous 
lives of hermits, martyrs, saints, and religious wonder- 
workers fabricated or remodeled at later dates, and 
especially since the invention of printing and the con- 
sequent birth and diffusion of — what had not previ- 
ously existed in Europe — a truly popular written lit- 
erature. The Gospels and the Acts, whether rightly 
ascribed to the apostles and the primitive disciples or 
not, and whatever opinion may be adopted as to the 
truth of their details and the critical ability of their 
writers, are, both in conception and in execution, in a 
strict sense documents of historical literature. The 
lives and acts of the Christian thaumaturgists of the 
five or six succeeding centuries were often simply 
dreams of crazy enthusiasm and wild superstition; 
but when composed with a conscious purpose, they 
were designed, not, like the Gospels, for general cir- 
culation or for the conversion of the people, but for 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age. 1 3 

the instruction and edification of the professional 
priesthood. They were, in short, what were technic- 
ally called " legends/' that is, writings intended and 
appointed to be read publicly and privately by the 
regular clergy. The term " legend " — the Latin ge- 
rundial legendiim — or lectio^ originally embraced a 
considerable part of the ordinary church service, but 
in common use it was afterward restricted to narra- 
tives of the lives and miracles of saints and martyrs, 
which, as well as ascetic treatises, were read aloud 
to monks and nuns when assembled for instruction, 
more especially during the hour of refection ; and 
they were also much used in private study in the 
monastic cells. 

The earliest of these biographies of holy men are, 
in general, narratives of events reported to the writ- 
ers on testimony which they accepted as credible, 
and there is seldom much room for doubting the 
good faith and sincerity of the authors. In very 
many instances, too, there are no good grounds for 
questioning the truth of the leading biographical 
data ; and the legends often incidentally furnish val- 
uable hints in regard to the times of the writers, if 
not of the heroes, of the tale, and, therefore, cautious- 
ly used, are a not unimportant source of historical il- 
lustration. Christianity was first received by a large 



14 MedicBval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

proportion of its votaries, not simply because it ap- 
proved itself to the conscience, the heart, and the in- 
tellect of man, but " for the very works' sake ;" and 
this was more emphatically the case in the ages of 
inferior culture which followed the decay and down- 
fall of the Roman empire. Hence, as would natu- 
rally be supposed, the legends of this latter period, 
even when founded on a basis of fact, scarcely ad- 
dress any faculty but the imagination; they almost 
universally exhibit a craving appetite for the marvel- 
ous and the supernatural, and a devout, unhesitating, 
and uncritical credulity, which clothe vrith a mythic 
coloring the scenery of the events described, and give 
to all but the frame of the picture — to all, in fact, 
which the writers and their contemporaries regarded 
as the real substance and marrow of the work — the 
character of a purely imaginative creation. 

The stock of ancient traditions, and of other sources 
of information regarded as authoritative, was not in- 
exhaustible ; and when the material at hand had been 
worked up, and grown trite and familiar, the monks 
began to borrow and remold themes from pagan my- 
thologies, and to compose imaginary Christian histo- 
ries of like character, at first, probably, not with in- 
tent to deceive, but simply as literary exercitations, 
and as an employment for the vacant hours of claus- 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age. 15 

tral life."^ These narratives embody the monkish 
ideal of the religious, as distinguished from the secu- 
lar, virtues. The types of their heroes and heroines 
seem to have been suggested by the personal experi- 
ences and aspirations of the writers, and the princi- 
pal personages of the drama almost uniformly begin 
or end by martyrdom or monastic profession. The 
mediseval legends, at whatever period the supposed 
scene may have been laid, were all more or less 
stamped with the character and costume of their own 
age and with the coitleur locale of the country of 
their composition, a circumstance which rendered 
them especially acceptable as well as credible to the 
contemporary world, and secured to them both a wide 
circulation and afterward a gradual recognition by 
the faithful, and often by the dignitaries of the Church, 
as authentic records. But the spirit of criticism born 
with the revival of learning soon detected the unhis- 
torical character of these compositions, exposed their 
anachronisms, their inconsistencies, and their improb- 



* In speaking of the early fabulous legends of the Eomish Church 
as often not intended to deceive, we refer to those composed before 
the forging of papal decrees and of grants of lands and wills in favor 
of the Church became a regular branch of monastic industry. When 
counterfeiting such documents had grown into an art, the invention 
of false miracles and biographies would naturally be practiced without 
scruple. See Appendix I. 



16 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

abilitieSj and the term '' legend " became at last al- 
most synonymous with " f able."^ 

The modern legends of Catholicism, or those com- 
posed or recast from old material after the joint in- 
fluence of the invention of printing and of the Eef- 



* For a highly instructive critical examination of the origin and 
composition of the mediaeval legends, see Alfred Maury, "Les Le- 
gendes Pieuses du Moyen-Age." We can not indeed adopt all the 
opinions of the learned author, but we know not where to look for a 
sounder and more philosophical view of the subject than this essay 
presents. It is eminently calculated to produce conviction in the 
minds of cultivated and candid Catholics, and is therefore regarded 
by the Church as a very dangerous book. Judicious measures have 
been taken for its suppression, and, though published so lately as 1843, 
it is now a very rave volume. 

Residents in Northern New York will remember the buraing of a 
large number of Protestant French Bibles by Canadian priests some 
years ago. The London Times of December 9th, 1875, contains the 
following account of the destruction of some of Gasparin's works by a 
zealous Catholic librarian in France : 

''Ultramontanes seem to have still a hankering for the auto-da-fe. 
Madame Gasparin, the well-known Protestant writer, having presented 
a copy of her late husband's work, '' Les [ficoles du Doute et les ficoles 
de la Foi," to the popular library of Boussenois, in the Cote d'Or, has 
received the following extraordinary letter from its director, M. de 
Geroal : 

" ' We can not thank you too much on this occasion. M. de Gas- 
parin's works and those of the Franklin Press are most useful to us. 
This very morning we made the finest fire ever seen with all these 
works. How pleasant, now the mornings are chilly, to warm one's 
fingers with M. de Gasparin's books ! They burn splendidly. Once 
more thanks, madame. Geneva paper, especially M. de Gasparin's, 
has done us a great service, and we hope to warm ourselves again with 
his books. Meanwhile, pray accept our warmest compliments.' " 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age. 17 

ormation had created a reading public, have been 
framed, not for the general purpose of spiritual in- 
struction, but in a spirit of distinct and conscious re- 
ligious partisanship, with the special object of serving 
as instruments of Komish propagandism, and their 
tone has been accommodated to the low moral and 
intellectual level of the classes for which they are in- 
tended. 

The " Vitse Patrum " is not now a common book ; 
and probably no inconsiderable proportion of the 
reading public in England and in the United States 
owes its first and only knowledge of the volume so 
highly commended by Mr. Lecky. to the use whicli 
that very able writer has made of it in the admirable 
history above quoted. The Jesuit Eosweyde, to whom 
we owe the editio optima of the "Yitse Patrum," 
was the most eflScient instrument of his order in the 
revival of hagiological literature, and some of his 
writinofs are still cited as authoritative on matters 
connected with the studies to which he devoted him- 
self. Hence we presume that a brief account of his 
life and labors, as well as of the volume just men- 
tioned and of others similar in character, will be not 
without interest in connection with some observations 
suggested by the efforts now making by the Society 
of Jesuits in many parts of Christendom, not only to 



18 MedioBval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

restore the miracles, the martyrs, and the saints of the 
early and mediseval Church to their old position as 
objects of faith and veneration, but to propagate the 
belief in new saints and contemporary miracles, and 
especially to give to the worship of the creature a 
still higher expression in what it is not extravagant 
or unjust to call the deification of the Virgin Mary. 

We think it right to premise, in this place, that we 
have no intention of running a tilt against Catholi- 
cism as the rehgion of morally and intellectually en- 
lightened men and women in the countries where it 
prevails. Our quarrel is with Eomanism, as another 
name for Jesuitism, which is not a religion, in any 
good sense of the word, but a polity. We will not 
even go so far as, with most of our co-religionists, to 
claim for Protestants a moral superiority over Catho- 
lics of the same degree of intellect and culture. Long 
residence in Catholic countries, under circumstances 
which have brought us daily, hourly, into free com- 
munication with Catholics of all ranks, has taught us 
that the common Protestant estimate of such Cathol- 
icism as we speak of is unjust ; and w^e have no hes- 
itation in saying that we find among zealous Catho- 
lics, and in every social condition, not excluding even 
the priesthood, examples of piety, truth, honor, chari- 
ty, benevolence, every moral virtue, in short, as brill- 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age, 19 

iant as any which experience has made known to us 
in Protestant lands. Nor do we limit this remark to 
the scholastically instructed classes. The children of 
the poor, under favorable circumstances, often receive 
a domestic training which supplies the place of the 
moral lessons elsewhere imparted in connection with 
more formal teaching; and candid foreigners who 
have resided in the continental countries of Europe 
generally admit that their Catholic household serv- 
ants, and the mechanics and shop-keepers they deal 
with, are as faithful and as honest as the same class 
of persons in England and in the United States. At 
the same time, we are very far from believing that 
any form of Catholicism is as favorable as Protest- 
antism to the development of the best qualities of the 
head and the heart. Catholicism as it is, and, so long 
as the fundamental organization of the Church of 
Eome continues to exist, will be actually administered, 
is hostile to the moral and the intellectual culture, 
and of course to the social progress, of man. Hence, 
though many Catholics emancipate themselves from 
ecclesiastical shackles, and rise to as high excellence 
as is anywhere attainable by humanity, yet the pro- 
portion of such is smaller than in Protestant peoples ; 
and, taking the whole population together, the average 
moral standard, like the average standard of knowl- 



20 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

edge, is much lower in France, Spain, Italy, than 
among the Protestants of Germany, England, and the 
United States. The fact that the truly virtuous and 
enlightened form a relatively less numerous body in 
Catholic than in Protestant countries, acts unfavora- 
bly on the character of the individual members of 
that body, because there is not among them the esprit 
de corjps of a consciously strong society, and public 
opinion is far less severe and efficacious in the con- 
demnation and repression of departures from the 
strict rules of morality. Hence they want the whole- 
some restraints which a larger proportion of men of 
sound principles and exemplary lives would impose 
upon them, and consequently the dissuasives from the 
indulgence of vicious propensities are less powerful. 
This state of things has given rise to what to unprej- 
udiced foreigners is one of the most painful features 
of the society we refer to. We mean the want of 
mutual trust and confidence among even men and 
women of good reputation, which betrays itself ev- 
ery hour to the stranger who has become sufficiently 
familiar with social life to be a competent observer. 
There is one phase of social life in which the Cath- 
olic nations, at least those of Southern Europe, are 
greatly superior to us of the Germanic and Anglo- 
Norman races, and which has a much higher ethical 



From the Patristic to the tTesuit Age. 21 

importance than we usually ascribe to it. We mean 
what have been happily called " the minor morals/' 
the urbanities and amenities of mutual intercourse, 
which powerfully tend not only to bring out kindly 
feeling in response, but really to promote it in those 
who habitually practice the civilities, the courteous 
regard for the sensibilities and the self-respect of oth- 
ers, so characteristic of the Latin nations, and which 
contrast so strongly with the bluff, if not brutal, ad- 
dress of the Englishman, the offensive self-sufficiency 
of the German, and the rude self-assertion of the 
American. 

Whether freethinkers, or those who reject alto- 
gether what is called, with a wide latitude of mean- 
ing, revealed religion, are proportionally more numer- 
ous in Catholic than in Protestant countries, it is hard 
to say. We incline to the affirmative of the proposi- 
tion ; but in any case it is certain that the number of 
professedly adhering and believing Catholics who ut- 
terly reject the exclusive pretensions of Rome, and in 
fact every thing specially characteristic of the Rome 
of Pius IX., is very large. In general. Protestantism 
is grossly misunderstood in Catholic countries, both 
as to what it affirms and what it denies ; and many 
a soi-disant Catholic is as essentially a Protestant as 
was Luther himself, without ever suspecting it. The 



22 Medimval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

name of Protestant is a bugbearj and, besides, howev- 
er strong may be the antipathies of a Catholic to the 
present government and principles of the Komish 
Church, there are, as will be readily obvious to every 
thinking man, many considerations which operate 
with great force'to deter serious-minded persons from 
openly separating from the communion to which they 
and their fathers have immemorially belonged, and 
which is connected by a vast multitude of ties with 
all their social, all their political, institutions."^ Add 
to this a want of moral courage, a defect which we 
believe to be more common among Catholics than 
among Protestants, and it is not strange that Old 
Catholics and other open seceders from Eome are 
few in France, in Italy, and in Spain, though there is 
a large, and, we hope, constantly increasing number 
of really "reformed" members of the Church of 
Eome who detest her intolerance, who have no re- 
spect for the dogma of papal infallibility, who do 
not worship the Virgin Mary as one of the persons 
of the Godhead, who do not govern their lives by the 
ethical principles of De' Liguori, nor choose spiritu- 
al counselors for their wives and daughters among 
priests who follow the detestable rules laid down for 

* See Appendix II. 



From the JPatristic to the Jesuit Age, 23 

their governance by that newly promoted Doctor of 
the Universal Church, in his " Manual for Confessors." 
But to return to Eosweyde. Heribert Rosweyde 
was born at Utrecht in 1569, and grew up under the 
influence of the violent passions excited by the relig- 
ious and political contest of that age between the 
Netherlands and Spain. He became in early youth 
a member of the society of Loyola, and was permit- 
ted and encouraged to devote his life to the study 
of ecclesiastical literature, and to the propagation of 
Jesuit views of the facts and principles which consti- 
tuted the history and inspired the government of the 
Church in the centuries immediately following its 
general recognition as the organized and visible rep- 
resentative of Christianity. On the acceptance and 
dissemination of these views the Jesuits rested their 
anticipations of a restoration of the political and re- 
ligious power of the mediaeval priesthood, then rude- 
ly shaken by the assaults of the Reformers, and espe- 
cially their ambitious hopes of the virtual supremacy 
of their own fraternity as at once the guiding influ- 
ence and the most efficient organ, the brain and the 
hand, of the papacy. If, after many rebuffs and 
many crushing defeats, they have at length, under 
the pontificate of the weak and willful Pius IX., well- 
nigh realized their most daring aspirations, their tri- 



24 MedicBval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

iimph is, in no small degree, due to a class of labor- 
ers of whom Eoswejde is a favorable type. 

Rosweyde published at Antwerp, where his life 
was chiefly spent, numerous laboriously edited works 
by other writers, in Latin and in Flemish, besides va- 
rious critical and controversial treatises of his own, 
which display no inconsiderable amount of learning 
and ability. It must be added, to his credit as a 
probably sincere and honest, if often mistaken, man, 
that, with a few exceptions of a certain importance, 
his writings exhibit at least a semblance of candor 
and fairness too often wanting in the literature of 
religious narrative, dogma, and discussion. Among 
the works of older authors published by Eosweyde, 
the most conspicuous are two editions of the " Yitse 
Patrum " in Latin, and several in Flemish ; a Flem- 
ish translation of the "Flos Sanctorum" of the 
Spanish Jesuit Eibadineira ; the " Silva Eremitarum 
^gypti et Palestinse ;" and the " Vitse Sanctarum 
Yirginum." All these, as would be inferred from 
their titles, cover to some extent the same ground, 
and they may be regarded as essays toward the exe- 
cution of a plan projected by Eosweyde, and after- 
ward carried out on a stupendous scale by the Bol- 
landists ; for a general collection of the "Acta Sanc- 
torum," or biographies of the holy men and women 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age, 25 

recognized by the Romish Church as endowed with 
special sanctity, and entitled to the veneration of the 
faithful. 

Of greater general interest, though of much more 
limited circulation than the works we have already 
mentioned, is John Busch's " Chronicle of the Angus- 
tinian Monastery," or rather " Coenobium " of Winde- 
sheim — so important from its relations with the "Fra- 
tres Communis Vitse" organized by Groote"^ — the 
only known manuscript of which chronicle was res- 
cued from destruction and published by Eosweyde; 
and the excellent service he thereby rendered to the 
history of mediaeval culture ought not to be passed 
over in silence. 

Most of Eosweyde's original works have been su- 
perseded by later productions, or are devoted to the 
discussion of questions which in our day have com- 
paratively little actual living interest, and are there- 
fore forgotten. His "Yindicise Kempenses," how- 
ever, is still quoted as an able argument in support 
of the claims of Thomas a Kempis to be regarded as 
the author of the " Imitatio Christi ;" and his " De 

* We are not able to refer to any tolerably full account in English 
of the Brothers of Common Life. Delprat's *' Verhandeling over de 
Broederschap, van G. Groote," second edition, Arnhem, 1856, is the 
most satisfactory general history of these important communities 
known to us. See Appendix III. 

2 



26 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

Fide Haereticis servanda/' an argument in defense 
of the burning of John Huss, by sentence of the 
Council of Constance, notwithstanding the safe-con- 
duct given him by the Emperor Sigismund, deserves 
special notice, both as an example of dexterous though 
shallow special pleading, well adapted to the mind 
and heart of the Catholic world at the period of its 
publication, and as having a significant bearing on 
questions of the profoundest importance, both then 
and now, to the moral, intellectual, and political in- 
terests of society. 

We do not propose to discuss the history of this 
cause celebre further than is necessary to make the po- 
sition of Eosweyde, of the council, of the papacy, and 
of the Romish Church in regard to it clearly intelli- 
gible ; but the real knot of the question is involved 
in his argument on the subject, though Eomish soph- 
istry has obscured it by embarrassing it with much 
irrelevant matter. The true point, then, at issue, and 
now of extreme interest to us, was not whether the 
Emperor Sigismund was base enough to betray his 
plighted faith, not whether a conventicle of ferocious 
bigots were consigning an innocent man to the flames, 
but whether the Eomish ecclesiastical tribunals have 
universal jurisdiction to judge, universal power to 
punish, the crime of heresy, without the consent and 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age. 27 

against the will of the civil power, however and wher- 
ever constituted. This jurisdiction, this power, as 
we shall see, the council claimed and the papacy af- 
firmed, and (at least virtually) still afiirms, in behalf 
of the Church of Kome. ^ 

Daniel Plancius, rector of the High School at Delft, 
had accused the Komish Church of teaching practi- 
cally, if not formally, that Catholics are not bound 
to keep faith with heretics, and had cited as an au- 
thoritative declaration to that effect tlie decree of 
the Council of Constance condemning John Huss to 
death, in violation of the Emperor Sigismund's guar- 
antee of his safety.^ The " De Fide Hsereticis ser- 
vanda" is a reply to this charge. It denies that the 
Church ever sanctioned the proposition that faith is 
not to be kept with heretics, and attempts, with much 
parade of citation, to prove that it both taught and 
followed the opposite doctrine ; diverts the attention 
of the reader from the real merits of the question as 
to the breach of faith implied in the action of the 
council, by what, under the circumstances, must be 

* Singularly enough, Plancius, so far as can be judged from Ros- 
weyde's reply, does not appear to have referred to the famous letters 
of Pope Innocent III. , in which the king and generals of France are 
instructed that in their warfare against the Albigenses *' faith is not 
to be kept with those who do not keep faith with God." See Gas- 
parin, " Innocent III.," p. 320. 



28 Mediaeval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

regarded as idle and hardly even specious quibbling 
about the period of Huss's departure from Prague 
for Constance, and the date, terms, and effect of the 
safe-conduct, which, though previously promised, was 
not actually delivered to Huss until he was on his 
way to the council; tries, not without success, to 
show that Huss was rash, intemperate, and inconsist- 
ent in his language, and gave unnecessary and indis- 
creet provocation to the council; and finally tran- 
quilizes the consciences of the faithful, to whom the 
case of Huss always has been, and still is, a very sore 
subject f" by showing that the council was duly con- 
voked and organized as ecumenical ; that its decrees, 
having all been sanctioned by the pontifical approval, 
were, for both these reasons, of divine authority ; and, 
therefore, that its decision on the point at issue deter- 
mining that heretics (Huss of course included) were 
amenable to its criminal jurisdiction, salvo conductu 
non obstante^ is to be received with implicit submis- 
sion as a conclusive answer to all objections. 

It must here be observed that the decision of the 
council did not in the least turn on the legal con- 

* For a curious and instructive account of the suppression, perver- 
sion, and falsification of the truth respecting Huss by the Austrian 
censorship of the press, in comparatively recent times, see an article 
in Fraser's Magazine for October, 1875, entitled "How History is 
sonxetimes Written. " 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age, 29 

struction and force of the safe-conduct, which Eos- 
weyde, writing two hundred years later, impeaches as 
not broad enough in its guarantees to cover the case. 
But this point was not taken by the council, nor does 
it appear to have been even raised in the discussions. 
It was assumed on all hands, as was undoubtedly the 
fact, that the safe-conduct was meant to secure Huss 
from all molestation by any authority whatever, lay 
or ecclesiastical, eundo^ morando et redeundo, and 
the council based its jurisdiction on the ground that 
the emperor or other civil authorities could not ex- 
empt heretics from ecclesiastical cognizance, because 
the ecclesiastical was in all things supreme over the 
lay power. The safe -conduct was rejected, not as 
limited in intent and legal construction, or as inap- 
plicable to the case, but as proceeding from an infe- 
rior and incompetent authority, having no jurisdic- 
tion of the matter, as derogatory to the higher digni- 
ty and prerogatives of a judicature which represented 
God on earth, and as therefore null and void from 
the beginning. The terms of the judgment, as ex- 
pressed in the nineteenth canon of the council, are 
thus given by Eosweyde, " De Fide Hsereticis servan- 
da," p. 3 : " Praesens sancta Synodus ex quovis salvo 
conductu per Imperatorem, et alios sseculi Principes, 
hsereticis vel de haeresi diffamatis, putantes eosdem 



30 MedioBval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

sic a suis erroribus revocare, quomimque vinculo se 
adstrinxerint, concesso, nullum fidei Catholicse, vel 
jurisdictioni Ecclesiasticse prsejudicium generari, vel 
impedimentum prsestari, posse seu debere, declarat ; 
quo minus, dicto salvo conductu non obstante ; liceat 
judici competenti et Ecclesiastico, de hujusmodi per- 
sonarum erroribus inquirere et alias contra eos debits 
procedere eosdemque punire, quantum justitia suade- 
bit, si suos errores revocare pertinaciter recusaverint : 
etiamsi de salvo conductu confisi ad locum venerint 
judicii, alias non venturi: nee sic promittentem, cum 
alias fecerit quod in ipso est, ex hoc in aliqua reman- 
sisse obligatum."^ 

* ** The present holy council declares that no prejudice to the Cath- 
olic faith, no impediment to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, can or 
ought to be created by any safe-conduct granted by the emperor or 
other secular princes, under whatever pledges, to heretics or persons 
charged with heresy, in the hope of reclaiming them from their 
errors, so that it should not be lawful for the competent ecclesias- 
tical judge, notwithstanding such safe- conduct, to inquire into the 
errors of such persons, and otherwise duly proceed against them, 
and punish them, as justice shall require, provided they pertinaciously 
refuse to retract their errors, even though they may have come to 
the place of trial upon the faith of such safe - conduct, when they 
would not have come otherwise; nor is the grantor [of such safe- 
conduct], when in other respects he has done what in him lay, in 
any manner bound thereby." 

From the tenor of this canon, it is evident that the terms and con- 
ditions of the safe-conduct were regarded by the council as wholly 
immaterial, and that no additional pledges by the emperor could 
have given it greater force or extension, the emperor having no au- 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age. 31 

It is evident that this canon, which does not men- 
tion Huss by name, or refer in terras to the safe-con- 
duct granted him by Sigismund, was intended as a 
general declaration of principle applicable to all like 
cases. It claims for the Church universal cognizance 
of questions of heresy and supreme authority to in- 
quire into and punish that crime, and it treats as nul- 
lities all acts and ordinances of the civil power in 
any way conflicting with the exercise of this its exclu- 
sive jurisdiction. Sigismund, in a speech addressed 
to Huss at a session of the council, in which he pro- 

thority whatever in the case. It is important to notice that the coun- 
cil claims power not only to try, but to punish, heretics, and there- 
fore the pretense that it is not the Church, but the "secular arm," 
which sheds their blood is a mere subterfuge. The Church employs 
lay hangmen and stokers, indeed, but it is her decree which author- 
izes them to take the life of the victim. And, besides, the tortures 
of the Inquisition were inflicted in her dungeons and by her " fa- 
miliars," not in the prisons or by the jailers of the State. Protest- 
ant writers, in a weak spirit of indulgent candor, have gone much 
beyond the truth in treating the Inquisition as often a political, 
rather than an ecclesiastical, engine. Doubtless, in some cases, the 
Church lent or sold her thunders, her racks, and her fagots to 
political persecutors; but the most that can be said in her defense 
is, that in such cases she was the accessory, not the principal, in 
the crime. There is no serious pretense that lay sovereigns ever 
compelled the Church to aid in the execution of their vengeances, 
though no doubt they may have found her a willing instrument of 
their own wickedness. The Church delivers the condemned heretic 
to the "secular arm" for execution by fire and fagot just as "the 
chief priests and elders of the people" delivered Jesus to Pontius 
Pilate, and he to the soldiers, " to be crucified." See Appendix IV. 



32 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

fessed himself ready to kindle the avenging fire with 
his own hand if the reformer refused to retract his 
errors, had insisted that the safe-conduct v^^^ functus 
officio when Hiiss had once been allowed to make 
his defense before that tribunal ; but the council de- 
scended to no such pettifogging shifts. It founded 
its decision on its own sovereignty and the conse- 
quent invalidity of all guarantees quocumque vin- 
culo^ under whatever ])ledges^ from lay, and therefore 
necessarily both inferior and incompetent, authorities. 

This and most, if not all, of the other decrees of 
the council were formally sanctioned by Popes Mar- 
tin y.^ and Eugenius, both of whom, as members of 
the council before their elevation to the pontificate, 
had voted for the condemnation of Huss. It has 
never been revoked or disapproved by the Church, but 
is virtually recognized and confirmed by the papal 
Encyclica and Syllabus of 1864; and it is therefore 
a doctrine that all Romanizing Catholics are bound 
to accept and maintain. 

The effrontery with which Eosweyde cites this 
damning piece of evidence as furnishing, in its last 
clause, conclusive proof of the good faith of the 
council and the Church is a curiously characteristic 
specimen of Jesuitical logic. 

* See Appendix V. 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age, 33 

The peculiar circumstances under which the Coun- 
cil of Constance was convoked gave to its proceed- 
ings a unique importance. There were then living 
three pretenders — Gregory XII., Benedict XIII., and 
John XIII. — all claiming to have been canonically 
elected to the papal throne, and all sustained by more 
or less numerous and influential adherents. It was 
to decide between the rival claims of these soi-disant 
pontiffs, and thus to heal a schism that had divided 
the Church for forty years, and, further, to crush the 
heresy of Huss and his followers, that the council 
was summoned ; and though John, the feeblest and 
least powerfully supported of the three, assented to 
the convocation of this body, it really assembled in 
obedience to the mandate of a lay sovereign, the 
Emperor Sigismund. With much diflBculty, Gregory 
and John were induced, after the council had been 
three years in session, to lay down their insignia and 
resign their pretensions into the hands of the council, 
and Benedict was formally deposed and excommuni- 
cated by it. Pope and antipopes being thus happi- 
ly disposed of, a conclave, composed of twenty car- 
dinals and thirty bishops, on the 11th of November, 
1417, conferred the triple crown on Otto Colonna, a 
member of their own body, who was then not an or- 
dained priest, but only a sub-deacon. The new and 

2^ 



34 Medioeval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

soon universally recognized pontiff took the name of 
Martin V. It is worth noting that, though Martin 
owed his elevation to the assertion of the ecclesias- 
tical supremacy of the council over the papacy in 
the deposition of Benedict XIII., he thought it pru- 
dent to check any further assumption of power on 
the part of this and future assemblies of the like 
character; and at the forty-fifth session of that of 
Constance he promulgated a constitution forbidding 
appeals from popes to councils, excejpt in cases of 
schism^ this being precisely the question in which he 
was now interested. Eosweyde, though in other parts 
of his argument often citing the decrees of popes as 
conclusively binding on the faithful, and even some- 
times treating councils as deriving their powers from 
the sanction of the pope, appears, nevertheless, to 
have really held that the supreme authority of the 
Church is vested in ecumenical councils; for his gen- 
eral conclusion is: "Fixum igitur firmumque esto, 
quod Clerus legitime congregatus in (Ecumenico 
Consilio statuit, id totius nominis Christiani, id totius 
Orbis, id totius Christianitatis, id Ecclesiae universse, 
id Dei demum esse judicium" (p. 19).* 

* *'Let it therefore be accepted as definitively settled, that whatever 
the clergy, lawfully assembled in ecumenical council, decides, that is 
the judgment of the entire Christian name, the judgment of the whole 
world, the judgment of all Christendom, the judgment of the Univer- 
sal Church — in fine, the judgment of God himself." 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age, 35 

This declaration, with which the opinions of a 
large proportion of the Catholic clergy undoubtedlj' 
then coincided, is, in the present position of that 
Church, one of the most important propositions in 
Kosweyde's work; though, his discussions of other 
points — such, for example, as whether, according to 
Catholic opinion, the pope can annul all contracts 
and all oaths, as well his own as those of other per- 
sons (" Utrum Pontifex, ex Catholicorum sententia, 
pacta omnia et juramenta, cum aliorum tum sua, pos- 
sit rescindere ") "^ — involve principles fraught with 
the most momentous consequences. On this particu- 
lar question the judgment of Rosweyde is, of course, in 
the aflSrmative, with the qualification, " Si ita caussse 
sequitas flagitet" ("If the justice of the case so re- 
quires ").t Eosweyde limits the exercise of this pow- 

* "Whether the pope, according to Catholic opinion, can annul all 
contracts and all oaths, whether his own or those of others." 

t The papacy maintains, as recently exemplified in Spain, that con- 
cordats between the Romish See and political states for the suppres- 
sion of religious liberty and other purposes are perpetually binding on 
the lay power, but that the Church may at any time rescind and re- 
voke all stipulations and concessions on its own part. Thus the Uni- 
vers of July 23d and September 25th, 1871, declares that concordats 
between Rome and civil states are not contracts, but temporary pnvi- 
leges, which the pope deigns to grant according to circumstances, 
mere concessions of which he always remains the master and sole 
judge, and which he can consequently revoke at his pleasure. See 
Michaud, '*De T^fitat present de I'figlise Catholique Romaine en 
France, " p. 74 ; Paris, 1875. 



36 Mediaeval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

er, indeed, by what, if the competency of the pope 
to determine all questions of conscience be admitted, 
would be, from the Catholic point of view, reasona- 
ble restrictions; but his argument is a Vkslow.^ petitio 
jpTincijpii^ because it assumes the very point in dis- 
pute, namely, the jurisdiction of the dicastery, the di- 
vine right of the head of the Church to substitute 
his judgment for the conscience of the party and the 
decision of ordinary civil tribunals, and to pronounce, 
as a sovereign magistrate, what the demands of jus- 
tice are. In fact, according to Eosweyde, and most 
defenders of the pretensions of Eome at the present 
time, the papacy is a jurisdiction vested with supreme 
authority to determine its own limits, and of course 
having practically no limit at all."^ The mere asser- 

* In a letter to the London Times, dated January 18th, 1875, too 
long to be given at length in this place, Monsignor Capel quotes, from 
his own reply to Mr. Gladstone, the following statement : 

"The Church, as the representative of the spiritual power, and as 
the guardian of the divine law, 

" a. Can define the limits of her own powers, and consequently, ipso 
facto, those of the other powers " [the paternal and the civil]. 

Like expressions are now constantly employed by the ultramontane 
press, and especially by the Civilta Cattolica, the direction of which 
has been created a corporation by Pope Pius IX., committed to the 
Jesuits, and virtually recognized as the official organ of the papacy. 
Thus the Civilta of March 18th, 1871, p. 664, says : " The pope is a 
sovereign judge over all civil laws. In him the two authorities, the 
temporal authority and the spiritual authority, are united, for he is 
the vicar of Jesus Christ, who was not only the eternal priest, but the 



1 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age, 37 

tion of a claim of competency by the papacy, in any 
supposable case whatever, is of itself a universally 
binding decision in favor of the validity of such 
claim. This all-embracing supremacy of the Church 
is impliedly claimed by the Encyclica and Syllabus 
of 1864, as well as by numerous bulls and decrees of 
earlier pontiffs, and it is precisely this that is meant 
by the phrase " liberty of the Church," in the lan- 
guage of the Roman Curia. It is distinctly main- 
tained that the liberty of tlie Catholic religion im- 
plies the authority of the Church to decide for itself 
what attributes, what organization, what legislation, 
what civil and criminal as well as moral and spirit- 
ual jurisdiction, and what disciplinary, judicial, ad- 
ministrative, and executive instrumentalities, are nec- 
essary or convenient for the exercise of its divine 
functions. Not only are all human laws or institu- 
tions in any way conflicting with this " liberty " in- 
valid and null ab initio^ but criminal and impious ; 
and, further, it is the duty of the State to lend its arm, 
when needful, to execute and enforce the decisions 
of the Church. It is upon such grounds that Eome 
claims the right to establish tribunals having exclu- 
sive jurisdiction of all matters, civil or criminal, in 

King of kings and Lord of lords The pope, by virtue of his ex- 
alted dignity, is at the summit of the tNvo powers." 



38 Medioeval and Moder7i Saiiits and Miracles, 

which the Church or any of its ministers are con- 
cerned,* and to create monastic and other religious 
bodies and give them legal corporate existence. 



* There is probably no one among the legislative and judicial re- 
forms of modern civilization which has been so strenuously resisted 
and condemned by the Romish Church as the abolition of the *Tora 
Ecclesiastica," or ecclesiastical courts, in the European states, and 
the consequent subjection of the Catholic clergy to the general, civil, 
and criminal law of the land. These tribunals formerly existed in 
every Catholic country, and in some European states they have been 
abolished only within the present generation. The judges, and all 
the principal officers of the ecclesiastical courts were taken from the 
clergy, and the rules of procedure and of evidence were totally diverse 
from those observed in the secular courts. Thus, laymen were not 
competent witnesses against churchmen in criminal causes: "Lai- 
cus," says Marcardus, '* contra clericum in causa criminali testimo- 
nium dicere prohibetur " ('* Laymen are not permitted to testify against 
a priest in a criminal case ") ; and this protection was extended to all 
tonsured, even if not yet ordained, persons. As Romagnosi observes, 
this is not merely the opinion of a canonist, but it is founded on an 
express provision of the canonical law. According to the same au- 
thority, a witness legally infamous, and consequently incompetent to 
testify in a civil court, might be received to testify in ^'Fora Ecclesi- 
astica," suh torturd (under torture), in support of wills in favor of 
pious objects. See Marcardus *'De Probatione." 

The abuses inevitable under such a system of jurisprudence are too 
ob\'ious to need to be dwelt upon. And yet, it should be universal- 
ly known, the power to create such tribunals, with such jurisdiction 
and so administered, is one of the " liberties " most tenaciously insist- 
ed on by the papacy at the present day. The Syllabus of 1864, v., 
xxxi., enumerates, among the damnable errors condemned by the 
papacy, the proposition : " Ecclesiasticum forum pro temporalibus 
clericorum causis sive civilibus sive criminalibus omnino de medio 
tollendum esse, etiam inconsulta et reclamanti Apostalica Sede," and 
refers to two allocutions of Pius IX., the Acerhissimum of the 27th of 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age, 39 

The sophism which consists in employing words 
in one sense in the premises, and in another in the 
conclusion, is dexterously and constantly used by 
Romish controversialists, and opponents are too often 
confounded by arguments in which a recognition of 
the liberty of the Church is converted into an admis- 
sion of its authority^ and the concession of a jpriv- 
ilege to be enjoyed into the acknowledgment of a 
right to be exercised. 

In these days of governmental resistance to eccle- 
siastical aggression, and of repression of ecclesiastical 
abuses, no complaint is more frequently and boldly 
urged than that of an infringement of the liberty 
of the Church. Equal religious freedom, in its true 
sense, is admitted as a political right by every really 
civilized people ; but papal Rome claims that the lib- 
erties of the Church are as wide as her cupidity and 
her ambition, and it rejects the principle sic utere 
tuo ut alieiium non Icedas^ or rather insists that there 
is no jus alienum as against the Church, and that no 

September, 1852, and the Nunquam fore of the 15th of December, 
1856, both of which contain violent protestations against the abolition 
of these justly detested tribunals in Hispano - American republics. 
Of course, if these courts had continued to exist in the Sardinian 
states, the shocking crimes which led to the suppression of the schools 
of the Ignorantelli at Turin and elsewhere, ten years ago, would have 
gone unpunished, and Father Theoger and his accomplices would still 
be engaged in their accursed work of corruption. See Appendix VI. 



40 IfecUceval and llodern Saints and Miracles. 

supposed right or liberty which conflicts with her 
pretensions can have a lawful or valid foundation. 

But to return to Eosweyde's principal labors. 
" Vitse Patruni " is a title first used generically, and 
applied indiscriminately to all collections of lives of 
saints, the particular work intended being indicated 
by reference to the name of the supposed author. 
But a narrative of a visit or visits to the monks and 
hermits of Egypt and the adjacent desert, believed 
to have been drawn up, or, perhaps, compiled or trans- 
lated from Greek into Latin, by Eufinus, a presbyter 
of Aquileia, in the latter half of the fourth century, 
appears to be the work usually meant by early medi- 
aeval writers when they cite the " Yitse Patrum," or, 
as by an easily explicable grammatical error it was 
popularly called, the "Yitas Patrum." Lives of 
saints and hermits, attributed to St. Jerome and oth- 
er writers, were subsequently added to this work of 
Eufinus, and the whole collection took the name of 
" Yitse [or Yitas] Patrum." Before the year 1471, 
three editions, or rather three issues of one edition, 
of the " Yitse Patrum " appeared, comprising in five 
books a large proportion of the matter contained in 
Eosweyde's redaction. These three issues are all 
without title-page, date, or place of publication or 
name of printer. In the following years of the same 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age, 41 

century, at least five other editions, with more or less 
new matter and many changes of arrangement, were 
published in different countries. Rosweyde's second 
edition, Antwerp, 1628, contains a carefully revised 
text of all the contents of previous issues, with im- 
portant additional biographical, historical, and critic- 
al treatises, with valuable prolegomena, notes, glossa- 
ry, and indexes, and it has not yet been superseded. 
Migne, indeed, has reprinted it, without addition or 
improvements, in volumes Ixxiii. and Ixxiv. of his 
"Patrologise Cursus Completus," Paris, 1860; but 
the mechanical execution of this edition is in the 
same very inferior style as the other volumes of his 
collection, and, like them, it has nothing but its 
cheapness to recommend it. 

The editions of the " Vitse Patrum " thus far enu- 
merated are all in Latin ; but several translations 
into different modern languages appeared in the 
course of the fifteenth century. Of these, the most 
interesting to English and American students is that 
of Caxton, printed by Wynkyn de Worde after Cax- 
ton's death, at Westminster, in 1495, under the title, 
"Yitas Patrum, or the Lyves of the olde anncyent 
Holy Faders Hermytes," and it is justly celebrated 
as one of the finest productions of De Worde's press. 
This translation does not appear to have ever been 



42 Medioeval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

reprinted, and it is much to be wished that some of 
the English publishing societies would prepare a new 
edition of a work which, on philological as well as 
literary and historical grounds, has so strong claims 
to our attention. 

In the form in which Eosweyde has given us this 
volume, it is a stout folio of about one thousand 
pages, exclusive of prolegomena and indexes. Its 
contents are divided into ten books, three of which 
were added by Eosweyde, and an appendix contain- 
ing the "Paradisus" of Heraclides and the "Lau- 
siaca" of Palladius. The first book is a compilation 
of narratives ascribed to different authors, among 
whom St. Jerome is the most conspicuous ; the sec- 
ond and third pass under the name of Eufinus ; and 
the remaining books are of various and for the most 
part uncertain authorship. These lives were mostly 
written in Greek, but some of the Latin translations 
were probably nearly contemporaneous with the orig- 
inals. In general, the Latinity is very far from 
classic, but in the main the simplicity of the thought 
renders the construction clear enough, and, at all 
events, those who are shocked by its barbarisms may 
read with pleasure the quaint old translations into 
modern languages, and especially the Flemish, which 
is apparently by Eosweyde himself, and is undoubt- 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age. 43 

edly the best of them all. The Continental transla- 
tions of the " Yitse Patrum " had great success, and 
the editions of them are numerous. On the other 
hand, as we have said, Caxton's translation of this 
work never had a second edition, though his ver- 
sion of the much inferior " Legenda Lombardica " of 
Peter de Yoragine, commonly called the " Legenda 
Aurea," was twice reprinted by himself, thrice by De 
Worde, and several times by other printers. 

As a matter of pure literary history, perhaps the 
most noticeable feature of the first book, if not of 
the whole volume, is the incorporation into it of the 
Oriental myth or religious romance of Barlaam and 
Josaphat, the truth of which is vouched for by the 
Greek translator, long supposed to have been Joannes 
Damascenus, an ecclesiastical writer of the eighth 
century, who treats the narrative as his own, and de- 
clares that he derived his facts from trustworthy 
sources. The authenticity of this legend was doubted 
at an early period, and mediaeval criticism was acute 
enough to detect in the tale itself internal evidence 
of the purely imaginative and even heathen charac- 
ter of the narrative. But this question was soon dis- 
posed of, so far as respects the true believer, by the 
decision of an infallible Church, which recognized 
the validity of the pretensions of these saints, en- 



44 Mediceval and Modern Shints and Miracles. 

rolled them in her martyrologies, and appointed the 
27th of November for their veneration. Profane 
learning has now traced the lives of Barlaam and 
Josaphat to a Sanskrit original, and identified the 
holy men with Sakya-Mouni, the divine founder of 
Buddhism, and one of his apostles."^ 

Perhaps no single legend has obtained a more 
extensive Continental popularity than this. Not to 
speak of numerous versions in all the principal Euro- 
pean tongues, we have before us a Flemish transla- 
tion of the sixteenth century, and an Icelandic, or 
Old Northern, of the beginning of the thirteenth ; it 
still continues to be separately reprinted for popular 
circulation, and one may find it in many a humble 
cottage in Italy on the same shelf with the " Lottery 
Dream-book," De' Liguori's " Glorie di Maria," and 
the exploits of the doughty paladins of chivalry, 
" Guerino detto il Meschino " and " I Eeali di Fran- 
cia." 

It was certainly not a new thing for a mediaeval 
hagiologist to adopt a heathen tale as the ground- 
work of a Christian legend, or even for the authori- 

* See Max Miiller in Contemporary Review for July, 1870, p. 588 ; 
and Colonel Yule's "Marco Polo," second edition, vol. ii., pp. 304-308. 
This couple of heathen saints still retains its place in the Romish cal- 
endar, and is found in the official Diario Romano for November 27th, 
1874 (issued con privilegio Pontijicio), p. 87. 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age. 45 

ties of the Eomish Church to introduce unbaptized 
and unbelieving pagans into the bead-roll of her 
demi-gods ; but, like the close conformity between the 
ritual and vestments of the Buddhist lamas and those 
of the Catholic priesthood, the fact that a Sanskrit 
narrative should have found its way to the shores of 
the Mediterranean, in that dark period, is of great 
interest as an illustration both of the wide range of 
Oriental influence on Western culture and Western 
religious ideas, and of the totally unhistorical charac- 
ter of the legendary lore of Rome. Independently 
of this fact, the story of Barlaam and Josaphat is the 
least attractive narrative in the " Vitae Patrum," be- 
cause it has little of the simple, true-hearted, and 
inartificial character which distinguishes so many of 
the legends embraced in that volume. In fact, that 
which gives the " Yitae Patrum " its value and inter- 
est above later collections of the same general nat- 
ure is, that the narratives are partly derived from 
personal observation and experience, and from inter- 
course with the monks and hermits they describe, 
and partly from the reports of other devotees believed 
to have been spectators of the events to which they 
bore witness. They are generally the productions of 
men not only fair-minded and honest in purpose, but, 
tried by the standard of their age, intelligent and ju- 



46 Mediaeval and Modern /Saints and Miracles. 

dicious. In general, their evidence as to what they 
saw, due allowance being made for enthusiasm and 
self-delusion, may be received as true ; while at the 
same time sound principles of historical criticism re- 
quire us to reject as pure fiction a large proportion 
of the facts which they narrate on hearsay evidence 
and tradition. The writers were inspired by no pur- 
pose but to promote the glory of God. The public 
they addressed was not the world, but the cloister. 
So far as their works had a consciously didactic char- 
acter, they were designed to stimulate the zeal and 
fire the devotion of the professed ; and the conver- 
sion of the wicked was but an incidental result to be 
accomplished, not by the popular circulation of these 
writings, but by the preaching of the ordained min- 
istry, whose character they were striving to form by 
exhibiting for their imitation examples of the passive 
and ascetic virtues, abstinence, self-denial, voluntary 
poverty, rigorous discipline, courage in encountering 
and fortitude in enduring the tortures and death of 
the martyr. 

Though the general tone of the earlier Christian 
legends is such as we have described, there are in 
the mythic lore of mediaeval Catholicism isolated in- 
stances of miracles of a different character, which, if 
not in their original conception, at least in the con- 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age. 47 

struction given to them and the application made of 
them, apparently stand out from the general mass of 
contemporaneous than mat urgy, and seem to antici- 
pate the spirit of a later age. Some of them we 
shall notice incidentally hereafter ; but as a character- 
istic example of the class we are speaking of, and for 
the sake of pointing out that even these miracles had 
originally a purely ecclesiastical significance, we will 
here refer to the miracle of Bolsena, to which the 
Eomish Church has attached such vast importance. 
Centuries before the time of Luther, skepticism had 
made its way among the Catholic clergy, who at that 
time were almost the exclusive possessors of theo- 
logical learning, and who alone occupied themselves 
with religious controversy. The doctrine of the real 
presence, transubstantiation, or the conversion of the 
bread and wine consecrated in the sacrament of the 
eucharist into the actual flesh and blood of Christ, 
being unsupported by the evidence of the senses, was 
accepted with extreme difiiculty even by the priest- 
hood; and there was always a strong party in the 
Church itself which doubted, if it did not positively 
deny, the fact of the miraculous transformation. Ac- 
cording to the authoritative doctrine, this miracle of 
transubstantiation was performed, not by an immedi- 
ate and special exercise of divine power alone, but 



48 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

through the concurring instrumentality of the priest. 
It was not the appropriation of the elements to the 
religious purpose of the sacrament, or their actual 
reception by the communicant, which operated the 
change, but it was the solemn pronouncing of a cer- 
tain formula by an ordained priest that metamor- 
phosed the substance, while it retained the color, con- 
sistence, and all material accidents of ordinary bread 
and wine, into the real flesh and blood of Christ. 
Every priest could administer the sacrament, every 
priest could at pleasure make himself a co-worker 
with God in this great miracle.^ The performance 
of this act by him was a necessary condition preced- 
ent to the reeeption of the sacrament by the penitent 
and the pronouncing of absolution ; and hence the 
possession of this tremendous power by the clergy, 
and especially the belief of the priests themselves 
that they did actually exercise it, were matters of ex- 



* *' Their [the priesthood's] incommunicable and highest preroga- 
tive is not in governing ; it is in the power of making the Son of God 
the slave of their voice, in offering the Son to the Father in unbloody 
sacrifice for the sins of the world, in being the channels through which 
grace is communicated, and in the supreme and incommunicable pow- 
er of remitting and retaining sin." — Donoso Cortes, Essays on Ca- 
tholicism, etc., p. 49, Dublin, 1874. Not having at hand the original 
of this absurd book, now in high favor with the ultramontane party, 
we quote from M 'Donald's translation published as above. The ital- 
icizing is our own. 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age. 49 

treme importance as tending to confirm the influence 
of the clergy on the people, and to strengthen in the 
clergy itself the esprit de corjps^ the feeling of a com- 
mon superiority of function by the possession of an 
exclusive prerogative denied to the laity ; for while 
the layman could, in case of necessity, perform the 
ceremony of baptism, which was the sacrament next 
in importance to that of the eucharist, the priest 
alone could administer the Lord's - supper, the nec- 
essary accompaniment of absolution.^ According to 
the Church, the miracle of Bolsena was performed 
to convince a skeptical priest, and through him his 
doubting brethren, of the reality of the transforma- 
tion of the sacred elements. When he cut the conse- 
crated wafer, blood flowed from the bread and stained 
the napkin on which it lay. The napkin, or corjpO' 
rale^ with its yet visible stains of the divine blood, is 
alleged to be still preserved in the Cathedral of Or- 
vieto, in which diocese Bolsena lies. 

For the reasons we have stated, the miracle of Bol- 

* ' ' A priest who kept a concubine, and who was covered with lep- 
rosy, found that the leprosy disappeared at the moment of consecra- 
tion in the celebration of the mass, but returned again after the com- 
munion. Do we not here clearly see the image of sin, the moral lep- 
rosy to which the guilty priest was a prey, and which left him only at 
the moment when, clothed with the divine character, the human nat- 
ure departed from him and there remained only the minister of the 
Divinity ?" — Maury's Legendes Pieuses du Moyen-Age, p. 65, 

3 



50 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

sena was considered a matter of cardinal importance 
to the clergy at the time it is alleged to have hap- 
pened ; and when, tw^o centuries later, the great strug- 
gle of the Reformation gave prominence to two lead- 
ing questions, the doctrines of transubstantiation and 
justification by faith, the miracle of Bolsena acquired 
a new importance as a piece of evidence addressed 
to the world as well as to the clergy. So long as that 
controversy raged, this miracle was constantly ap- 
pealed to as a conclusive proof of the apostolic char- 
acter of the Catholic priesthood, and the anniversary 
of its occurrence, the feast of the Corpus Domini, 
was celebrated with the greatest pomp and splendor. 
In later days, in spite of the efforts of Newman and 
other Catholic writers to divert public attention from 
the real issues of the present day by reviving the dis- 
cussion of forgotten controversies, the great theolog- 
ical questions which divided religious opinion in the 
sixteenth century have fallen into the background, 
and the real presence and justification by faith are 
no longer points which much occupy men's minds. 
The agitating problem now is, not the relative supe- 
riority of Catholicism and Protestantism as schemes 
of religious belief or even of practice, not what are 
the spiritual functions and prerogatives of the clergy, 
but whether the papacy shall absorb all civil and all 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age, 51 

temporal power, and whether Kome, or rather the 
Jesuits in the name of Home, shall again rule the 
world. Hence the miracle of Bolsena has sunk into 
comparative insignificance : and it is not very improb- 
able that the famous shrine, wrought in the fourteenth 
century with such exquisite skill to contain the cor- 
jporale^ may, not long hence, find a place, as so many 
similar works have already done, in a profane muse- 
um of mediseval art. 

As has been observed, the " Yitse Patrum " has be- 
come an obsolete book. It has been completely su- 
perseded by a branch of legendary literature in- 
tended for more general circulation and for more 
purely popular effect. The Jesuits have never for- 
gotten the old adage: Power must be maintained 
by the same means by which it was acquired. They 
know that Christianity was received by a large pro- 
portion of its primitive converts on the testimony of 
miracles. It is to signs and wonders that they now 
appeal in proof of the divine authority of their mis- 
sion ; and from the miracles of St. Francis Xavier to 
those of Our Lady of Lourdes, there is scarcely one 
which has not owed its acceptance by the faithful 
and the authorities of the Church to the ministry of 
a Jesuit apostolate. 

The Reformers of the sixteenth century, as well as 



52 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

many of their followers in recent times, often failed 
to see clearly whither their own fundamental princi- 
ples were leading them, and consequently they some- 
times preached doctrines the full development of 
which involved the subsequent adoption of opinions 
which they did not perceive to be necessary conse- 
quences or corollaries of the great truths they were 
proclaiming. Hence they were unconsciously under- 
mining many beliefs — such, for instance, as that in 
post- apostolic miracles — which they themselves, to 
some extent, entertained. The real import and ul- 
timate result of their teacliings was, that inspiration 
ceased with the apostles ; that the power of working 
miracles was confined to them and other primitive 
disciples ; and that the incarnation of Christ, as set 
forth and expounded in the records and doctrinal 
teachings of those holy men, constituted a complete 
and perfect dispensation, capable indeed of expan- 
sion and development in the way of interpretation 
and application, but neither requiring nor admitting 
addition or augmentation in dogma or in external 
supernatural proof. "^ 

* The general doctrine among Protestants who claim a special di- 
vine origin for the Christian Scriptures may be thus stated : Chris- 
tianity, as an intellectual religion, doubtless teaches more to a pure and 
cultivated mind than to a debased and ignorant one ; but any system 
of religious doctrine which inculcates upon the latter what it allows to 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age. 53 

The influence of the preaching of the Reformers 
was, in many respects, wider than the reception of 
their doctrines. Its leaven even penetrated within 
the pale of the Catholic Church, and produced a 
fermentation which threatened the decomposition of 
the whole mass. The mediaeval legends were fall- 
ing into discredit not only where the Reformation 
prevailed, but, for a time, even in strictly Catholic 
countries. But there had been reformers before the 
Reformation, and the opinions of Luther were fruits 
of a past as well as seeds of a future agitation. 
Anxious questionings concerning the soundness of 
the foundations of Romish supremacy had been rife, 

be regarded as false by the former is itself false. There are, even in 
mathematics, gradations, approximations, or at least accommodations, 
of truth in the practical application of strictly scientific principles. 
To the common wheelwright, the relation of the circumference of a 
circle is as 22 to 7, or, in case greater exactness is required, as 355 to 
113, and neither the reason nor the experience of the uninstructed me- 
chanic contradicts this rule. To the mathematician the relation is a 
circulating decimal, and wholly incapable of exact numerical expres- 
sion. The imperfection of language and the utter inadequateness of 
human conceptions of spiritual things may oblige religious teachers to 
employ terms which fall short of the truth, not terms in one case con- 
tradictory to terms employed in another. The Scriptures, say the 
Protestants, contain all spiritual truth necessary to the believer, and 
in matters of doctrine are their own witness. With increased knowl- 
edge and intellectual power among men, they are better and better un- 
derstood, and this enlarged comprehension constantly keeps pace with 
the advance of intellect, supplies its needs, and renders further proofs 
or revelations superfluous. 



54 Mediceval and Modem Saints and Miracles, 

and the necessity of counteracting these dangerous 
tendencies had long been felt by the Catholic hie- 
rarchy. Hence, for generations and even centuries 
before the reformatory movements of Luther, his as- 
sociates and followers, there had been a persistent 
and successful effort on the part of the Komish 
Church to supersede the canonical Scriptures as an 
authoritative and sufficient guide to a knowledge of 
the facts, the faith, and the moral system of the 
Christian religion, and to substitute pontifical bulls, 
definitions, and ordinances as the sole rules of Chris- 
tian doctrine and practice.*^ The old legendary nar- 
ratives, originally composed, as we have seen, for the 
use and edification of the monastic clergy, and espe- 
cially the later and more imaginative works of relig- 
ious fiction, were observed to have the eff^ect of weak- 



* We have here an explanation of the remarkable fact that, while 
the translation and circulation of not only morally unexceptionable, 
but of absurd and demorahzing, legends have been, from a remote pe- 
riod, not only permitted, but promoted, by the Church of Rome, the 
translation of the Scriptures, and even private reading of the Vulgate, 
without special permission, has been sometimes absolutely forbidden, 
and under all circumstances discouraged by that Church. So reluc- 
tant were the ecclesiastical authorities to allow the study of the Bible 
to be in any way facilitated, that an English priest was burned alive, 
not two centuries before the Reformation, for preparing a concordance 
to that volume. On the other hand, dictionaries or general indexes to 
the body of legends are allowed ; and there are even geographical dic- 
tionaries, or gazetteers, of the legends of the Catholic Church. 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age, 55 

ening the hold of the Scriptures on the hearts of the 
people, of strengthening ecclesiastical influence among 
them, and of constantly presenting the Church of 
Rome, embodied in the clergy and especially in the 
regular orders, as enlightened and sanctified from 
above, and clothed with spiritual supremacj^ by di- 
vine appointment ; in fine, as the recipient and min- 
ister of a continuous perpetual inspiration, witnessed 
from time to time, as was the mission of the apos- 
tles, by signs and miracles, and therefore as the equal 
and ever-living successor of Christ. The title God rt^j^ • ^ 
on Earth {Deus in Terris)^ was very commonly ap- : ^•' 
plied to the pope by ecclesiastical and at last by pro- 
fane writers; and, in fact, though the phrase is now 
not much used, the same attribute is even more vo- 
ciferously claimed for the head of the Romish Church 
at the^resent day. 

The Founder of the Christian religion disclaimed 
all political authority, discouraged all worldly ambi- 
tion in his disciples, and even asserted no direct su- - , ^ 

premacy over the moral and intellectual man. On 
the contrary, he appealed to the testimony of the 
individual conscience and reason in support of his 
right to be heard as an expounder of spiritual and 
ethical truth. The Eomish Church makes no such 
appeal, arrogates to itself despotic authority, de- 






56 Mediaeval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

mands unreasoning, unquestioning submission, and 
claims assent to its ^ dogmas upon its own ipse dixit ^ 
unsupported by external argument or internal evi- 
dence."^ i 

* "It follows from this that the Church alone has the right to af- 
firm and deny, and that there is no right outside her to affirm what 
she denies, or to deny what she affirms. The day when Society, for- 
getting her doctrinal decisions, has askeji the press and the tribune, 
newswriters and assemblies, what is truth and what is error, in that 
day error and truth are confounded in all intellects. Society enters into 
the regions of shadows, and falls under the empire of fictions 

*'The doctrinal intolerance of the Church has saved the world from 
chaos. Her doctrinal intolerance has placed beyond question polit- 
ical, domestic, social, and religious truths — primitive and holy truths, 
which are not subject to discussion because they are the foundations 

of all discussions This serves to explain why the Church, and 

the Church alone, has had the holy privilege of fruitful and prolific 
discussion." — Donoso Cortes, Essays, pp. 42, 43. \ ' ^ ' i; 

Of all the means of moral and intellectual culture, there is probably 
none more efficient than the study of ethical and rehgious doctrine, in- 
cluding the investigation of the principles on which it rests. In the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, theological learning occupied in 
the general education of Protestant countries the place now assigned 
to politics and public economy. The great statesmen, philosophers, 
and even poets of those periods had received almost a professional 
clerical training, and herein lies one of the secrets of their strength. 
The Church claims this vast field as her exclusive province, and in 
denying to laymen the right to the free exercise of their reason on the 
questions most important to their well-being here and hereafter, Do- 
noso Cortes and other defenders of R6me deprive them of the most po- 
tent methods of the highest mental discipline. They contend that the 
doctrines of the Church are to be received as axioms, propositions of 
necessary and absolute truth ; and that no question of right and wrong, 
of duty to God or man, can be discussed on any other basis. It is 
not surprising that writers starting with such preposterous assump- 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age, 57 

Kome assumes to personate the Redeemer in an 
organized corporate form ; to be not only the per- 
petual depository of the spiritual functions of Christ, 
but also to exercise what he repudiated — a general 
sovereignty over all the temporal powers of the earth. 
Pretensions so extravagant, however boldly and per- 
sistently urged, require some other support than bare 
assertion, and hence the necessity of a succession of 
new supernatural evidences more or less akin to the 
material proofs which accompanied the earthly life 
of Christ. These, it is declared, are found in fre- 
quent new revelations and displays of miraculous 
power, and hence, as might naturally be supposed, 
the signs and wonders of the apostolic age have been 
left far behind, in number and in variety, by those 
of the mediaeval and modern Eomish Church. 

There were, undoubtedly, very many in the early 
ages of Christianity who adopted the new faith, not 
upon the testimony of its miracles, but from a sense 
of its adaptedness to the moral needs of the human 
spirit. There are happily, in our days, a large number 
of enlightened men in Catholic countries who accept 

tions should arrive at preposterous conclusions. Donoso Cortes him- 
self is a striking example of the chaotic confusion of ideas in a mind 
which believes because Rome declares, and not because reason and 
conscience approve. 

3* 



58 Medioeval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

the Christian religion in the form in which alone 
birth and education have made it known to them, 
but w^ho have as little respect for miracle-mongers as 
the most skeptical Protestant. But these are the few- 
est. It is not to such that the authorities of the Eom- 
ish Church now address themselves, but to the multi- 
tude whose faith is founded in the grossest materialism, 
and who can apprehend no spiritual, no abstract truth, 
except when clothed in the coarsest sensuous form. 

As soon as the Society of Jesuits had become well 
organized, and its aims and policy clearly defined in 
the minds of its leaders, it was apparent that its real 
scope was not the revival of apostolic Christianity, 
but the resuscitation of mediseval ecclesiasticism as 
a means of universal and supreme power to be used 
for purely worldly purposes. The promotion of a 
religious reaction became its peculiar function, and 
the rehabilitation of the more recent fabulous litera- 
ture of the Church played an important part in the 
work of reconstruction. 

From the literary character and critical ability of 
Eosweyde, it would hardly have been expected that 
he would engage very zealously in the dissemination 
of a mythology so different in tone and object from 
the older legendary narratives which he had done so 
much to make accessible and intelligible. But the 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age. 59 

discipline of the order of Loyola permits and encour- 
ages strange and sudden changes of apparent par- 
pose in its adepts, and accordingly we find the hand 
of Rosweyde as active in this new field as it had been 
in the illustration of more primitive hagiology. His 
most important labor in the branch of religious fic- 
tion, which we are now about to introduce to the 
reader, is his Flemish translation of the " Flos Sanc- 
torum " of Ribadineira, with numerous additions, in 
two large folios, which, as appears by a copy before 
us, had so rapid a sale in the small public for which 
it was designed that it had reached a sixth edition as 
early as the year 1686. He gave to the book the ti- 
tle " General Legend of the Saints," and this and oth- 
er versions of the collection of Eibadineira are usual- 
ly cited by this name. The " Flos Sanctorum " has 
been translated into most European languages ; it has 
been published under the highest ecclesiastical sanc- 
tions, in hundreds of editions, some dating within the 
last two or three years ; and it is to be regarded as 
the most authoritative repository of Eomish ecclesi- 
astical tradition which is accessible to the general 
public in the Catholic countries of the European con- 
tinent.^ The principal rivals to this work in England 

* Several collections of legends bearing the title of **Flos Sancto- 



60 Medioeval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

and France, so far as we remember, are Alban But- 
ler's "Lives of the Saints" and Baillet's " Vies des 
Saints." But these are by no means stimulating 
enough to satisfy the appetites of Catholic lovers of 
sensational religious narrative. Butler's work is fee- 
ble, flat, and washy, seldom rising even to the ridicu- 
lous ; and Baillet's four heavy folios, though learned, 
are scarcely less insipid. The most extensive collec- 
tion of the Lives of the Saints is the "Acta Sancto- 
rum " of the BoUandists, which when completed will 
be among the most voluminous works ever publish- 
ed in Europe."^ The biographies of the saints follow 

rum " appeared in the sixteenth century, and one of them, printed in 
the year 1556, was inserted in the *' Index Librorum Prohibitorum," 
donee corrigatur. This is not the "Flos Sanctorum " of Ribadineira 
referred to in the text, which was first printed near the close of the 
sixteenth century, at Madrid, in Spanish. None of the very numer- 
ous editions and translations of this work appear to have met with any 
ecclesiastical censure. 

* We barely notice this collection because, like the "Annals" of 
Baronius, and the most ancient legends we have spoken of, it is a 
i^wvoiy professional work, printed in Latin, and designed solely for the 
use of the clergy, not for the lay population. The " Flos Sanctorum " 
of Ribadineira, on the other hand, though with a Latin title, was first 
written and published in Spanish, and intended for the edification of 
the Spanish people, upon the religious character of which nation it 
has had a very powerful influence. It has been translated into most 
modern European languages, as well as into Latin, and is still very 
widely circulated. Besides the regular canonical legendaries, there 
exists in manuscript, or in rare literary collections, a vast mass of old 
religious fable which, though once very popular, is not known to have 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age, 61 

the calendar, the name and life of each being placed 
under the day of his martyrdom. The sixtieth folio 
comes down to the 29th of October, and the lives 
of the two or three thousand saints remaining to be 
catalogued will, it is thought, fill forty or fifty more 
additional volumes. The plan of the "Acta Sanc- 
torum " and of the " Flos Sanctorum," which is the 
same in this respect, leads to some jostling among 
the aspirants for human veneration and some jeal- 
ousy among their devotees, because it happens, not 
unfrequently, that the anniversaries of several mar- 
tyrs occur on the same day. This is naturally a 
growing evil, for all the saints must be accommo- 
dated within the three hundred and sixty-five days 
of the year, and the number is constantly growing.^ 
In 1862, Pope Pius IX. canonized twenty-seven Jap- 
been formally approved by Rome. To this mythology we can only 
allude in passing, and we confine ourselves to legends which are at 
this day circulated under the sanction of the competent authorities of 
the Eomish Church. See D'Ancona, "I Precursori di Dante," Fi- 
renze, 1873, and authorities there cited. See also Appendix VII. 

* Rome has now a considerable number of candidates for canoniza- 
tion on the lists. Not to mention humbler individuals, we may spe- 
cially refer to Joan of Arc and Louis XVI., the claims of both of 
whom are strenuously urged by French ultramontanists, obviously for 
political reasons. Our old friend Columbus, too, whose jealous spirit 
the honors paid to the American Cardinal M*Closkey will not allow 
to sleep, is an aspirant for the same elevation. What will Mr. Aaron 
Goodrich and Professor Anderson sav to this ? 



62 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

anese martyrs in a batch, and a volume at least will 
be required for a fair narrative of the heroic deeds 
of Pedro de Arbues, a holy man, selected as chief as- 
sociate by Torquemada, the famous Grand Inquisitor 
of the fifteenth century, and whose apotheosis was 
well justified by his exploits during the few years in 
which he brandished the torch and plied the rack.*^ 



* For the use of the word apotheosis in this sense we have the au- 
thority of Cozza, who, in his life of De Arbues published at Rome in 
1867, applies this term even to the beatification which precedes the 
final decree of canonization. In ecclesiastical Latin, the saints of the 
Church are commonly called Divus, the appellation bestowed by the 
Romans on the deified emperors after their death. According to his 
biographer, the distinguishing quality which recommended De Arbues 
to the gentle Torquemada, and of course, we must suppose, to Pius 
IX. who canonized him, Avas his tender and sympathetic nature, which 
told so powerfully on the Jews and Moslems of his province that these 
miscreants embraced Christianity by thousands as soon as it was 
known what means of ''moral suasion" the dread tribunal had in- 
trusted to him. Cozza does not descend to particulars, but he per- 
haps refers to an amiable practice, in which De Arbues indulged, of 
roasting his victims by a slow fire, thus humanely sparing them the 
keen pangs of a sudden death by exposure to a fiercer heat, affording 
them an easy and gradual introduction to the more agonizing tor- 
ments they were about to enter upon in the infernal regions — under 
the sharp ministrations of an Inquisitor of whom even De Arbues and 
Torquemada were but feeble though ambitious imitators — and, at the 
same time, securing to them an hour or two of leisure for repentance. 
De Arbues is reported to have been eminently successful in inventing 
methods of torture which inflicted the keenest agony on the victim 
without a wound or even breaking the skin. What valuable services 
for a Church which ''never sheds blood!" 

When Rome condescends to answer the charge of persecution, she 



From the Patristic to the Jesuit Age, 63 

The BoUandist Lives of the Saints have, in gener- 
al, no literary merit, or, as Froude expresses it, " no 
form or beauty to give them attraction in them- 
selves;" and we can conscientiously indorse his judi- 
cious recommendation, that " whoever is curious to 
study the lives of the saints in their originals should 
rather go elsewhere than to the Bollandists, and, uni- 



retorts by reproaching Protestants with an intolerance as uncharitable 
and even as ferocious as her own. There is certainly color of truth in 
this accusation. The Reformation was not at once and completely 
our everriculum fermenti veteris. The old leaven long infected the 
new religion. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Protestants 
not only repaid persecution by persecution, but even volunteered it ; 
and there have been cases where this treatment of "heretics" was al- 
most as unchristian, as inhuman, as criminal, as the inquisitorial acts 
of the Romish Church herself. But there is this difference. As soon 
as that free discussion which Rome interdicts to her flock had shown 
the Reformed Churches that religious persecution was contrary to 
their own principles and to those of the Gospel, they ceased to practice 
it ; and there is no Protestant who does not now deplore and condemn 
this error, this crime, of his forefathers. Rome, on the other hand, 
has never disapproved any of the bloody suppressions of heresy, any 
of the atrocities of her instruments, from the crusade against the Albi- 
geois to the dragonnades of Louis XIY. and the recent murders of 
Protestant clergymen by Catholic mobs, headed by priests, at Barletta 
and Mexico. Even now she canonizes the most fiendish of Inquisi- 
tors, and claims the right to put down heresy by force. Rome cries 
to us, as she did to the immortal pilgrim. Christian, *' You will never 
mend till more of you be burned." Bunyan's picture of the '*01d 
Man that sat in the mouth of the cave " is as true to the life at the 
present day as it was when that wonderful genius lay languishing 
twelve years in Bedford jail, a victim to the intolerance of a Protest- 
ant State Church. See " Pilgrim's Progress," Part I. 



64 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

versally, never read a late life when he can command 
an early one." 

Our limits of space will not permit us to give ex- 
tracts from the older lives of saints. We must refer 
our readers to the various legendary collections, to 
Mr. Lecky's valuable work, and to Milman's " Latin 
Christianity," for notices of them. We now proceed 
to give some account of what, in the present phase 
of modern religious life, is of greater practical im- 
portance, though of far less intrinsic interest — the leg- 
endary literature of the Church of Rome since the 
Reformation and the foundation of the order of Jes- 
uits. 



Froyn the Founding of the tTesuits to Pius IX. 65 



11. 

FKOM THE FOUNDING OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUITS TO 
THE KEIGN OF PIUS IX. 

We now proceed to give, from sources the authen- 
ticity and even authoritative character of which Car- 
dinal Manning himself would scarcely have the hard- 
ihood to deny, some specimens of the moral and in- 
tellectual nutriment which the Romish Church has 
supplied to its votaries for more than three centuries. 
When we speak of the authoritative character of 
these legends, we mean that they have been pub- 
lished, and are constantly republished, as well as 
orally promulgated, under the express sanction and 
with the approval of the proper ecclesiastical licens- 
ing officers, and very often also of other high digni- 
taries of the Church, including the pontiffs them- 
selves. On this point we desire to make ourselves 
well understood, and we think it important to draw 
the attention of our readers to the position of emi- 
nent Catholic ecclesiastics, and especially of Dr. 
Newman, in relation to it. In 1873, Dr. Newman 



66 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

republished an essay on the " Miracles of Scripture," 
written by him for the " Encyclopaedia Metropolitana" 
in 1825-26, when he was still a Protestant ; and an- 
other, on the miracles of the first age of Christianity, 
written in 184:2-'4:3 as a preface to a translation of a 
part of Fleury's " Ecclesiastical History." In the for- 
mer of these essays, page Y7 of the new edition, he 
speaks with some severity of the " notorious insinceri- 
ty and frauds of the Church of Eome;" in the latter, 
at page 236, he quotes Melchior Canus, a Dominican 
and a divine of Trent, as saying of the " Legenda 
Aurea" that it is the production of "an iron mouth, 
a leaden heart, and an intellect without exactness or 
discretion;" and, on page 237, he refers to similar 
avowals respecting other legendaries " from the first 
century to the sixteenth, from inspired writers to the 
schools of St. Dominic and the Oratory." In a note 
on page 77 he qualifies the passage above quoted re- 
specting the " notorious insincerity and frauds of the 
Church of Eome," by admitting that " there have been 
frauds among Catholics, and for gain, as among Prot- 
estants, whether churchmen or dissenters, or among 
antiquarians, or transcribers of MSS., or picture-deal- 
ers, or horse-dealers," etc., " but that* does not prove 
the Church to be fraudulent," etc., etc. Dr. New- 
man does not here assert, in direct terms, that the 



From the Founding of the JTesuits to Pius IX, 67 

Church of Eome has never practiced "insincerity 
and fraud" by circulating fabulous legends and 
sanctioning counterfeit miracles, but he unquestion- 
ably means to be understood as altogether denying 
the complicity of that Church in any such impos- 
ture, and her responsibility for the circulation of such 
books as the " Legenda Aurea " and other lying " leg- 
endaries " and tales of fictitious miracles. 

It is a fashionable affectation among English Prot- 
estants, and by some of them it has been carried to 
an offensive obsequiousness, to treat Dr. Newman as 
a thoroughly fair, open, and candid writer on con- 
troverted questions in theology and ecclesiastical his- 
tory, polity, and discipline. We freely admit that 
Dr. Newman has not the unblushing and unscrupu- 
lous recklessness of assertion and denial which 
characterizes some of the more conspicuous of his 
countrymen, who have preceded or followed him in 
transferring their religious allegiance to an alien 
enemy, and who habitually use fact, as geologists use 
time, ad libitum; but we should be glad to see some 
proof that he does not hold the supj)ressio veri to 
be lawful when the truth would be damaging to his 
cause. It is observable that, in the note from wliich 
we have quoted, Dr. Newman, though citing some 
private expressions of disapproval of absurd legends, 



68 Mediceval and Modem Saints and Miracles. 

does not produce a single authoritative or official dec- 
laration of any period later than the " sixteenth cent- 
ury," the date of the foundation of the order of Jes- 
uits, as condemning any ecclesiastical fable or fraud 
whatsoever; and he most assuredly knows that the 
monstrous fictions we have above referred to, many 
of which are in a high degree ridiculous, profane, 
and demoralizing, as will appear from the extracts 
we shall give from them, are printed and reprinted 
under the imjorimatur of the constituted authorities 
of the Churcli, and assiduously circulated at this day 
by the parochial and monastic clergy among their 
penitents, without a word of reproof from their su- 
periors. In short, he is fully aware that this foolish 
and corrupting mythology is propagated with every 
sanction the Church can give it, short of a formal 
dogmatic ex-cathedrd affirmation of its truth. And 
Dr. Newman can hardly be ignorant of the fact, 
that even such affirmation has been made, at least 
impliedly, in regard to some such fables, in pontific- 
al acts of canonization declared on the face of them 
to be pronounced ex cathedra by divine inspiration. 
On this point a word of explanation will not be 
amiss. The performance of miracles by the candi- 
date, or by his relics after his death, is not only a 
necessary condition of canonization, or even of the 



From the Founding of the Jesuits to Pius IX, 69 

ascription of that lower degree of holiness implied in 
beatification, but is, in fact, the sole base and ground 
upon which either of these proceedings is founded. 
When the canonization or beatification of a supposed 
saint is proposed, and the large funds necessary to 
cover the expenses are raised or secured by the dev- 
otees of the candidate, or the sovereigns, who ask 
this honor for him — for Rome does nothing, not 
even canonize a saint or crown an image of the Vir- 
gin, gratis — the evidence of the performance of mir- 
acles by the aspirant, his bones, or some fragment of 
his person or his raiment, is referred to an ecclesias- 
tical tribunal, which submits a report upon it in the 
nature of what lawyers call a " special verdict," de- 
tailing the facts established by the testimony. Upon 
this report the pope pronounces judgment, and, if 
favorable to the pretensions of the claimant, decrees 
his canonization or beatification according to the de- 
gree in which his "heroic" virtues have been exer- 
cised. The decree, which is promulgated ex cathedra 
by the pope in person, with the same formalities as in 
the case of a definition of a new dogma, is expressly 
grounded on the miracles, which it usually recites, 
and often at great length, and concludes with a 
declaration, that if any shall disregard the decree or 
dare to dispute it, he will " incur the wrath of Al- 



VO Mediaeval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

mighty God, and of the blessed apostles Peter and 
Paul." It is noticeable that in most cases the decree 
does not refer to the proof of the miracles, or the 
report of the ecclesiastical board on that subject, but 
treats them as if directly known to the pontiff. The 
records of the proceedings, which in many cases are 
curiously minute and circumstantial, do not general- 
ly employ the word cathedra in referring to the seat 
of the pontiff, but more commonly use solium^ al- 
ways, however, stating that he was crowned with the 
mitre when pronouncing the decree. In some rec- 
ords Sedes erninentior^ id esty Solium Pontificiumy 
is used ; but, in point of fact, this Sedes or Solium 
is the technical, official Cathedra^ all decrees pro- 
noimced from which are infallible, and, as appeai-s 
from the work of Pope Benedict XIY., "De Ser- 
vorum Dei Beatificatione et Beatorum Canoniza- 
tione," lib. xlv., cap. 4, this point is insisted upon by 
those who hold the infallibility of the judgment of 
canonization. But, as we have stated, there are in- 
stances in which the decree, in express terms claims 
the divine sanction. Thus the sentence of Clement 
VIII., in the canonization of Saint Eaymond, asserts 
itself to be pronounced auctoritate Dei omnipotentis^ 
Patris et Filii^ et Sjpiritus Sanctis Beatorum Apos- 
tolorum Petri et Pauli^ et Nostra. See Benedict 



From the Founding of the Jesuits to Pius IX. 71 

XIV., " De Canonizatione/' etc., lib. i., app. xi. Still 
stronger is the language employed in the decree of 
the canonization of the saints Isidore Agricola, Ig- 
natius Loyola, Francis Xavier, Filippo Neri, and Te- 
resa de Jesu, promulgated by Pope Gregory XY., on 
the 12th of March, 1622, and printed in Benedict 
XIY., " De Canonizatione," etc., lib. i., app. xi., edi- 
tion ofPrato^ 1839, pp. 538-541. The extract from 
the report of the case given in the volume cited is 
confined to the final proceedings, and does not, like 
many others, embrace the history of the miracles of 
the candidates, though it dwells largely on their 
merits. The final decree read by the secretary, no- 
mine suce Beatitudinis and in the presence of the 
pope, the cardinals, and all the principal oflScers of 
the Curia, is as follows : 

" Audite, Coeli, quae loquor ; audiat Terra verba 
oris mei ! 

" Cum e re Christiani Nominis esse sibi pie persua- 
dent Sanctissimus Dominus Noster, coelestes hono- 
res quinque his Beatis tribui, divino Numine in- 
stinctus ex altissima hac Christianse Sapientise Cathe- 
dra qnam Divinse Yeritatis Oraculum Deus ipse con- 
stituit in terris, Isidorum Agricolam, Ignatium Loyo- 
1am, Franciscum Xaverium, Hispanos; Philippum 
Nerium, Florentinum, in Sanctorum Confessorum 



12 Mediceval and Modern JSaints and Miracles, 

Catalogum, Teresiam de Jesu, Hispanain, in Sancto- 
rum Yirginum Numerum referendos esse, decernit." 
Or, in English, thus : 

"Hear, ye heavens, what I speak; let the earth 
hear the words of my mouth ! 

"Forasmuch as our most Holy Lord [a common 
Latin designation of the Pope] is piously persuaded 
that it is for the interest of the Christian name that 
celestial honors be ascribed to these five Blessed, be- 
ing impelled by divine inspiration, he decrees, from 
this most exalted chair of Christian wisdom, which 
God himself has established as the oracle of Divine 
Truth on earth, that Isidore Agricola, Ignatius Loy- 
ola, Francis Xavier, all of Spain, and Philip Neri, of 
Florence, be inscribed on the roll of Holy Confessors, 
and that Teresa de Jesu, of Spain, be counted in the 
number of Holy Yirgins." 

The pope, then, upon the supplication of Cardinal 
Ludovisi, confirmed the sentence read in his name 
by blessing the assemblage, making the sign of the 
cross, and solemnly pronouncing the sanction, De- 
cernimus. In claiming inspiration and infallibility, 
language can go no further. 

What the particular miracles were upon the 
strength of which the canonization of these saints 
was decreed does not appear from this record, and 



From the Founding of the tTesuits to Fius IX. 73 

the faithful are, of course, authorized to infer that 
they are those narrated in the " Flos Sanctorum/' or 
General Legend, and other collections published un- 
der the sanction of the ecclesiastical authorities, the 
only sources, in fact, from which they can obtain in- 
formation on the subject. 

The decree of canonization, being founded on the 
alleged miracles, of course implies the affirmation 
of the actual performance and genuine supernatural 
character of those miracles ; and if, in pronouncing 
it, the pope is to be considered as speaking official- 
ly ex cathedra^ as is most expressly insisted by the 
terms of the decree, all Catholics are bound by his 
judgment as to the reality of the miracles asserted. 
The absurdity and evident falsity of many of them 
have led numbers of Catholics to attempt to evade 
this conclusion by denying that, in this case, the 
sentence is of a dogmatic and binding character. 
The question is discussed at great length, and 
numerous authorities on both sides are cited, in Ben- 
edict XIY., " De Canonizatione," lib. i. Pope Bene- 
dict leaves the precise point undecided, but his per- 
sonal opinion is evidently in favor of the infallibil- 
ity of these decrees, and he sums up his argument 
in these words : " Itaque, ut tantse qusestioni finem 
denique imponamus: Si non haereticum, temerari- 

4 



74 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

um quidem, scandalum toti Ecclesise afferentera, in 
Sanctos injuriosura, faventein hsereticis negantibus 
auctoritatem Ecclesise in canonizatione Sanctorum, 
sapientem haeresim, utpote viam sternentem infide- 
libus ad irridendum fideles, assertorem erronese pro- 
positionis et gravissimis pcenis obnoxium dicemus 
eum, qui auderet asserere, Pontificem in hac aut ilia 
canonizatione errasse (" De Canonizatione/' etc., lib. 
i., cap. xlv., 28), which we thus translate : " To con- 
clude the discussion, then, we declare that whoever 
shall dare to assert that the pope has erred in this 
or that canonization, is, if not heretical, rash; that he 
brings a scandal upon the whole Church ; disparages 
the saints, and countenances heretics who deny the 
authority of the Church in the canonization of saints; 
savors of heresy, as opening the way to infidels for 
ridiculing the faithful ; is a maintainer of an errone- 
ous proposition, and deserving of the severest pun- 
ishment." The pope adds, that this is the universal 
judgment of all authorities on either side of the main 
question.^ 

* Dr. Newman accordingly exposes himself to the gravest ecclesi- 
astical censure if he hesitates to believe that angels, in the shape of 
two yoke of white oxen, assisted St. Isidore Agricola, then a farm- 
servant, in plowing a field: **rios Sanctorum," iii., p. 213 a; that 
St. Teresa k Jesu was ad divinos amplexus familiariter admissa ; that 
God once snatched (ereptam) a cross from her hands, and restored it 



From the Founding of the Jesuits to Pius IX. 75 

Hence it is clear that, as to all miracles adduced 
as proof of the sanctity of the canonized, the Church 
teaches that, if not positive heresy, it is a great sin 
to disbelieve them; and, consequently, the Church 
makes herself responsible for the truth of them, as 
well as for that of other fictitious wonders promul- 
gated by the priesthood in her name, and the circu- 
lation of which a single word of condemnation from 
Eome would at once end forever. If Kome -does not 
approve and sanction this use of her name by her 
oflScial ministers, why is not that word spoken ? 

In view of such facts, where was Dr. Newman's 
"candor" when he penned the note in question as a 
salvo to the condemnation he had pronounced in the 
essay? Is it "for gain" that the Church makes 
herself a party to impostures and falsehood, or will 
Dr. Newman save himself by avowing that he, as 

set with four large jewels ; that Christ presented to her his right hand, 
and said: *' Behold this nail, whereby it is attested that henceforth 
thou art my spouse, which dignity thou hadst not hitherto attained. 
Hereafter, therefore, thou shalt honor me not only because I am thy 
God and Creator, but thy spouse, as thou art my true spouse;" that, 
on another occasion, Christ said to her, **If I had not already cre- 
ated heaven, I would create it for thy sake alone ;" that, notwithstand- 
ing these exalted favors, this saint was so humble that she habitually 
performed menial services in the convent, sometimes running about 
on all fours and caiTying a pannier of stones on her back, ritu quadru- 
pedis, and with a halter around her neck. — Flos Sanctorum, i., 519 
a, 521 b., 526 b. 



76 Mediaeval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

a son of the Church, accepts the legend of St. Ur- 
sula and her eleven thousand virgins, whose festival 
is celebrated at Kome, on the 21st of October, at the 
churches of the Ursulines, who venerate St. Ursula 
as their patron, Torre de' Specchi, Sta. Maria del Po- 
polo, and St. Ignatius, w^here the head of one of the 
virgins is exhibited; the legend of Barlaam and 
Josaphat, who are venerated on the 27th of Novem- 
ber ; the ridiculous tales of Eibadineira and his con- 
tinuators, or those of St. Alfonso de' Liguori in his 
" Glorie di Maria ?" Will he stultify himself by de- 
claring that he believes in the signs and wonders of 
the winking Virgin at Rimini, of the madonnas of 
La Salette and of Lourdes, and of the crazy nun of 
Paray-le-Monial ? If not, does he acquit the Church 
of "insincerity and fraud" in sustaining them; or 
are these cases where the Church affirms to the mul- 
titude what it admits to Dr. Newman to be mere 
falsehood and delusion ? It is pure disiugenuousness 
and sophistry in Dr. Newman to talk of such cheats 
and impostures as the work of " Catholics," and not 
of the " Church," unless he means to assimilate Pius 
IX. and the whole hierarchy of Rome to "picture- 
dealers" and horse -jockeys, and to include them 
among the "Catholics" who commit these "frauds 
for gain." 



From the Founding of the Jesuits to Pius IX, 77 

If we are asked whether the superstitious beliefs 
and observances which we have noticed constitute 
the general faith and religious practice of intellect- 
ual lay men and women in Catholic countries, we 
reply, most emphatically, they do not. They are as 
decisively rejected by such persons as they are in 
Protestant lands, and those only are responsible for 
the existence of such doctrines and such delusions 
who actively or tacitly encourage their acceptance or 
diffusion. We know, too, that many Catholic eccle- 
siastics sincerely deplore the prevalence of these de- 
grading superstitions, though we must add that few, 
if any, openly protest against them — for what Rom- 
ish ecclesiastic would dare to denounce the fables, 
the follies, and the filth of De' Liguori ? When in- 
telligent Catholics are remonstrated with on the ab- 
surdity and even criminality of circulating these triv- 
ial and often immoral fables, and when you point to 
a papal brief recognizing them, and encouraging by 
indulgences and pardons the adoration of the image 
or relic by or through which the miracle is alleged 
to have been wrought, the stereotyped answer — es- 
pecially from " perverts," who, as a general rule, are 
very ignorant as to the real teachings of the Church 
to which they have seceded — is that these tales are 
not matters of dogmatic definition ; and therefore a 



78 Mediceval and Modern /Saints and Miracles. 

belief in them, even if sanctioned by a pontifical 
brief, is optional, not obligatory. We have already 
disposed of this point so far as the miracles of canon- 
ized saints are concerned ; but even if there were any 
foundation for the opinion that canonization is not 
an authoritative, dogmatic afiirmation of the reality 
of the miracles, the distinction between what we are 
invited and what we are obliged to believe is alto- 
gether too subtle for the mass of Catholic worshipers, 
who, in general, are not taught to attach vital impor- 
tance to the question what sort of a chair the pope 
sat in when he pronounced a particular decree or is- 
sued a particular brief, or to discriminate between 
the solemnly formulated pontifical dogma and the 
preachings and teachings of the monastic and the 
parochial clergy, and who consequently suppose all 
that the Church, embodied in the pope, oflicially or 
unofficially proclaims, and all that the curate or con-, 
fessor, the official representative of the Church, de- 
clares, to be equally binding. Every Catholic cler- 
gyman knows that the " Glories of Mary," and oth- 
er equally fabulous and demoralizing collections, are 
constantly printed under ecclesiastical sanctions which 
command the respect of the vulgar, and that these 
books are in general circulation among his parish- 
ioners. Every priest knows that the masses, to whom 



From the Founding of the Jesuits to Pius IX. 79 

this profane mythology is addressed, do not distin- 
guish between what the pope, divino Numine in- 
stinctuSj pronounces to bind the reason and the con- 
science of the penitent, and what the higher or even 
the lower orders of the regular and parochial clergy 
supply to them in their regular church -services, in 
printed books and in festival sermons, as true repre- 
sentations of Christian faith, practice, and history. 
The devout Calabrian and Sicilian assassins and rob- 
bers, and even the honest peasantry and artisans who 
flock around the shrine of an imaginary saint, still 
more implicitly accept the doctrine and the fables 
which popular religious literature and the priesthood 
diffuse in narratives and harangues about their idols 
than they do the facts and teachings of the Gospel. 
The Church, then (that is, the priesthood), from the 
pope to the lowest country curate — for in the ultra- 
montane slang of the present day the Church means 
the clergy only, and does not include the laity — is 
responsible for the degrading and demoralizing influ- 
ence exerted on the people by the only literature it 
encourages and circulates. The very breviary, or 
manual of church-service, prepared under a decree of 
the Council of Trent and sanctioned by numerous 
papal ordinances, contains a number of legends, sel- 
dom, indeed, so offensive to good taste, good morals, 



80 Mediaeval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

and good sense as many of the tales of Eibadineira 
and the visions of Mary Alacoque, but, nevertheless, 
often utterly undeserving of credit, and in a religious 
sense as unprofitable as the "Arabian Nights " tales.^ 
We have spoken of the class of legends we are 
now about to introduce to our readers as belonging 
to the last three centuries. Many of them, indeed, 
are of more ancient origin, but they had fallen into 
comparative oblivion, and had ceased to exercise any 
practical infl.uence until Jesuit industry hunted them 
up, rechristened them, transformed them, clothed 
them in new habiliments suited to new special pur- 

* What edification can a serious-minded worshiper find in the le- 
gend of St. Hilarion, contained in the breviary under October 21st, 
which happens to lie open before us ? This saint, converted from pa- 
ganism to Christianity when a school-boy, retired to anchorite life in 
the Egyptian desert at the age of fifteen, and died at eighty. He al- 
ways wore a garment of sackcloth, and this, once put on, was never 
washed or changed : nee vero saccum quo semel amictus est unquam 
aut lavit aut mutavit, — Breviarium Romanum, October 21st, approved 
by Pope Clement VIII. and Urban VIII., and published at Paris and 
Lyons in 1851. The pious Isabella, daughter of his Most Catholic 
Majesty Philip II., fell far short of this, for she wore her linen un- 
changed only three years, the capture of Ostend, then in infidel hands, 
having released her from her solemn vow at the end of the siege. 

Is any spiritual Christian the wiser for listening to the legend of 
Paul the Hermit ? This saint lived in the desert to the age of one 
hundred and ten years, receiving every day, from a crow, half a loaf, 
and a whole one when he had a visitor. W^hen St. Anthony found 
him dead in his cave, two lions appeared, bewailed his death, and dug 
his grave with their claws. — Breviarium Eomanum, January 15th. 



From the Founding of the Jesuits to Pius IX, 81 

poses, and then sent them forth to the world, claim- 
ing for them the prestige of antiquity as a guaran- 
tee of their truth. 

We have already observed that the chief evidence 
relied upon by the Jesuits for the claims of that 
Church is, not holiness of life in its professors, but 
the performance of miracles by Catholic saints and 
martyrs. Most modern miracles of an earlier date 
than the restoration of the order of Jesuits by Pius 
yil. in 1814 — after forty years of suspended anima- 
tion in Eussia^ — had been performed through the 
intercession of living saints, and occasionally, though 
perhaps more rarely, by relics, sacred images, or some 
other visible material agency, acting as a conductor 
of the divine energy. Apparitions and revelations 
of the Virgin, the creation of wonder-working springs 
by her, and the like, though certainly far from new, 
are more especially characteristic of the thaumatur- 
gy of the present day. The miracles of the " Flos 
Sanctorum " are chiefly of the former class, and the 



* When the society of Jesuits was suppressed in 1773, many of the 
order took refuge in Russia, where they were allowed by the Govern- 
ment to exist in a partially organized and unostentatious form, until 
their restoration in 1814. So long as they were persecuted by the 
papacy they were protected by Russia, and, doubtless, in some way 
made useful to her tortuous policy ; but as soon as they were restored 
by the pope, they were expelled from the Russian territories. 

4* 



82 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

Yirgin is far from playing an important part in the 
mythology of that collection. But we shall return 
to this point hereafter. 

The supernatural interventions most in vogue in 
Catholic countries are, naturally enough, miracles of 
healing, as is abundantly testified by the multitudes 
of crutches, waxen limbs, pictures of remarkable de- 
liverances, and other ex-votos suspended at the most 
frequented shrines of popular superstition. The 
saints of Catholicism would furnish a very complete 
tnateria medica thaumaturgica. Many saints have 
been, and are, general practitioners in medicine ; oth- 
ers, what are now called specialists; and there is 
hardly a human malady which has not its particular 
combatant and conqueror in the ranks of the apoth- 
eosized. Thus St. Vitus, who is simply the heathen 
Slavic god Swantowit, under a Romanized name, 
cures the spasmodic convulsions known as St.Yitus's 
dance; Santa Lucia has a double vocation, healing 
the diseased eyes of her votaries, and protecting them 
against fire f" St. Liborius is so eflScacious in stone 
and gravel, that the mere translation of his relics to 
Amelia — the inhabitants of which were almost uni- 
versally, ^/^T'e omnes^ afflicted with that evil — banish- 

* *' Flos Sanctorum," vol. i., p. 460. 



From the Founding of the J'esuits to Fins IJl. 83 

ed the disease from the city so completely that a case 
was never afterward heard of within its precincts;^ 
St. Simon Stylita is sovereign in imposthumes ; San- 
ta Barbara, whose persecutors, including her own fa- 
ther, were killed by a thunder-bolt, is a sure refuge 
against lightning, and it is her consequent partiality 
for explosions which has caused her to be chosen as 
the patroness of artillerists, and to be complimented 
by the bestowal of her name on naval powder-mag- 
azines, which the French call " Sainte Barbe ;" An- 
drea Avellino has, at Messina, a temple dedicated to 
him as contra ajyojplexin ojpifero Sospitatori^ and 
his life is so remarkable that the editor of the Latin 
edition of the " Flos Sanctorum " of 1721 thought it 
worth while to devote no fewer than twenty-three fo- 
lio pages to an account of it. This saint excited the 
wrath of the great enemy by crossing himself, when 
a puling infant in the cradle, and was ever after a 
marked object of Satanic hatred and persecution. 
Not only was he daily and hourly beset with tempta- 
tions during his whole life, but the adversary, in the 
shape of an ugly, ragged vagabond, virum abomina- 
hili vultu^ foedh dilaceratis indutum vestibus^ fol- 
lowed him to his final agony, and tried to intercept 

* *'Flos Sanctorum," vol. iii., p. 414. 



84 Mediaeval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

his fleeting spirit in his latest breath. His judicious 
biographer thinks that Satan would probably have 
fetched his soul at last, but for the intervention of a 
handsome young gentleman, elegantissimd forma jvn 
venis — of course an angel in disguise — who came to 
the rescue at the critical moment, threw a halter set 
with sharp spikes over the head of the foul fiend, and 
dragged him out through the solid wall of the dying 
man's cell, belaboring him lustily the while with a 
stout shillalah, multis et gravibus verberihus.^ Still 
more precocious than St. Andrea Avellino was St. 
Vincenzo Ferrer, who yelped like a puppy in his 
mother's womb, to the great consternation of that ex- 
cellent matron, who was comforted only by the as- 
surance of the Archbishop of Valencia that this quasi 
catuli latratus indicated that the unborn babe would, 
in time, defend the flock of the Lord, and drive away 
the wolves by his energetic barking. St. Yincenzo 
Ferrer performed above eight hundred and sixty 
miracles, chiefly in the way of healing, all duly at- 
tested and recorded. Among his other graces he 
possessed the gift of tongues, for, though preaching 
only in his native Yalencian, every foreigner heard 
him in his own language.f 

* **rios Sanctorum," vol. ii., pp. 139-148. 

t Id,^ vol. iii., p. 642. Carlos Ros justly attaches much importance 



From the Founding of the Jesuits to Pius IX, 85 

The supernatural gifts of the saints have been by 
no means confined to the remedy of disease. The 
recovery of stolen goods by holy men was formerly 
very common, and King Ferdinand of Spain not 
only excelled in general detective police, but he was 
particularly, jprczsertim^ resorted to in cases of dra- 
jpetomania^ being, by special grace, very successful 
in catching runaway slaves, a virtue formerly much 
in request in certain quarters, but now fallen some- 
what into discredit. The kindness of this saint to an- 
imals was such, that, when he had arrested heretics 
and caused them to be condemned to the flames, he 
was used to spare the oxen the labor of drawing 
fuel for the pile by carrying the wood on his own 
blessed shoulders."^ 

These examples are all taken from the authorized 
Latin edition of the " Flos Sanctorum " above refer- 



to this fact as proving that the dialect of Valencia is truly '* apostol- 
ic." Indeed, the Holy Virgin herself employed Valencian, at the 
time of her visit to Elx, in giving instructions respecting the observ- 
ance of her festival at that city. The original document, together 
with a picture of the Assumption, is still, we believe, preserved at 
Elx in a casket, provided by the Virgin to contain it. The use of 
Valencian by the Virgin is not surprising, for we have the testimony 
of the learaed theologian, Vicente Marco, to the fact that it was one 
of the seventy-two languages spoken at Babel before the confusion 
of tongues, which it happily survived. 

* "Flos Sanctorum," vol. iii., pp. 293, 300, 308. 



86 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

red to ; but though it would seem that human folly 
can go no further, they may at least be paralleled, 
if not surpassed, in absurdity by thousands of other 
cases recorded in writings published, and industrious- 
ly circulated at this day, under the direct personal 
sanction of the highest authorities of the Eomish 
Church, including, in many cases, the popes them- 
selves. 

Take, for example, the history of the Holy House 
of Loreto, a legend dating, indeed, as early as the 
fourteenth century, but to which little importance 
was attached before the pontificate of Sixtus Y. 
This structure, though not in any of its features re- 
sembling the ancient architecture of the East, is af- 
firmed to be the original mansion of Joseph and 
Mary, and, consequently, the home in which the in- 
fancy and youth of the Saviour were spent. For 
three centuries it has been visited annually by many 
thousands of pilgrims ; and before the invasion of It- 
aly by the French, near the close of the last century, 
it had accumulated from their offerings a treasure of 
precious objects supposed to be unsurpassed by any 
collection of valuables in the world. According to 
the legend, the house was transported by angels from 
Kazareth to the east coast of the Adriatic in the 
twelfth century, removed twice or thrice afterward 



I^rrm Ae Pnrm^nrj orthj^. Jkr^At^ to Pl^i TX. ?7 



1- 



Itth-totii 



It 






r-e are V2^. : ::s 



88 Medimval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

of Gregory of Tours, under the date of a.d. 596. 
The reconciling of the conflicting statements in re- 
gard to the place of deposit of this relic has cost 
Catholic investigators much trouble, there being no 
fewer than ten " holy coats " at different shrines, each 
asserted to be the only genuine garment, and all in- 
vested with about equal miraculous powers. Leo X., 
in 1514, decided in favor of the coat of Treves as the 
veritable relic, and, of course, gave it great promi- 
nence; but in 1843 Pope Gregory XYI. declared the 
coat at Argenteuil to be the authentic piece of rai- 
ment. The difficulty is easily solved by the supposi- 
tion of a miraculous multiplication of the garment; 
and, indeed, we do not see why there might not be 
ten holy coats as easily as two heads of John the Bap- 
tist. The coat at Treves disappeared soon after the 
time of Gregory of Tours, and did not come to light 
again until the year 1196, w^hen it is alleged to have 
been found in a vault discovered in the course of re- 
pairs of the cathedral. It is now believed by pro- 
fane archaeologists to be the mantle of a priest of 
Baal, or, perhaps, more probably of the Druse relig- 
ion. Some of the pilgrimages to this shrine have 
numbered hundreds of thousands of votaries, and that 
of 1844 is particularly memorable as the occasion of 
the German Catholic movement initiated by Rouge. 



From the Founding of the tTesuits to Fius IX, 89 

This agitation threatened even more serious danger 
to Eome than the Old Catholic reform of the pres- 
ent day, until it was put down by the Protestant gov- 
ernments of Germany, whose policy it then was to 
sustain the papacy as a political ally."^ 

Before entering upon two important phases of 
modern superstition to which we shall soon refer, we 
will premise an account of some other remarkable 
recent legends; and we ask particular attention to 
the life of the Jesuit Anchieta, as an example of the 
puerile and irreverent character of modern hagiolo- 
gy, and to the veneration paid to the relics of St. 
Philomena, as an instance of the facility with which, 
even in the nineteenth century, the recognition of 
purely imaginary personages, as saints, martyrs, and 
miracle-workers, can be secured under the auspices 
of the Church of Eome. 

The blessed Father Anchieta, a native of Teneriffe, 
was one of the early adepts of the Society of Jesuits, 
and became celebrated as the "Apostle of Brazil," 
where most of his life was spent in missionary labors. 

* It is only since the declaration of papal infallibility that the pla- 
tonic billing and cooing between Rome and Prussia has ceased. 
When the assembling of the Ecumenical Council of 1869 was an- 
nounced, the King of Prussia (now Emperor of Germany) sent to His 
Holiness Pius IX. a magnificent carpet, to be spread under the pon- 
tifical throne in the council hall. 



90 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

He was beatified by a decree of Pope Clement XII. 
in 1736, and the testimony on which the decree was 
founded, as existing in the records of the process for 
that purpose in the Yatican, is contained in his life, 
published at Eome in 1738, with all the regular li- 
censes and sanctions. As the author of the life 
boasts with reason, no saint has ever appeared on the 
stage of the world attended by a more "splendid 
retinue of miracles," and hence Anchieta is natural- 
ly considered as emphatically the " thaumaturgist of 
his age." Healing the sick and raising the dead 
were matters of such familiar, every -day practice 
with Anchieta that they soon ceased to attract notice 
among his contemporaries. Their jaded palates con- 
stantly required new stimulus to keep their appetite 
for the marvelous at the proper pitch. Hence, our 
saint was constrained to resort to grotesque and fan- 
tastic miracles, occasionally much resembling the ex- 
ploits of modern spiritistic mediums, and often per- 
formed, not for any purpose of edification, but in 
mere wantonness of spirit. Thus, at the game of the 
goose — which consists in giving the neck of the poor 
bird a twist as the contestants run by it, the one who 
bestows the fatal wrench being the victor — a quarrel 
having arisen as to the person entitled to the prize, a 
deaf-and-dumb boy spoke, at the command of Father 



From the Founding of the JTesuits to Fius IX, 91 

Anchieta, and claimed the goose as his own. This 
"miracle" says our author, " diverted" the assembled 
crowd more than any other sport of the day. His 
biographer cites the following wonder as particularly 
" funny," lejpido. While ascending a river, his com- 
panions shot several monkeys from the boat. An- 
chieta ordered them not to kill any more of the ani- 
mals, but to amuse themselves with the mourning of 
the survivors. He then summoned the rest of the 
troop to bewail the dead, which they did in chorus, 
with such awkward tumbles, such uncouth cries and 
contortions, and such " most ridiculous gestures and 
grimaces," as hugely to delight the humane specta- 
tors, and the monkeys continued the exhibition till 
Anchieta dismissed them with his blessing. When 
walking in the sun, he would summon flocks of birds 
to hover over his head and keep pace with him, per- 
forming the part of a parasol. When preaching at 
the city of Espirito Santo, he was always attended by 
a couple of large tamed birds, whose office it was to 
perch on the belfry of the church, and warn him by 
loud cries when he was in danger of wearying the 
patience of his audience by spinning his spiritual 
yarn to too great a length. He would travel for 
miles at the height of several palms above the 
ground, and he often thus performed journeys of 



92 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

many hours in a few minutes ; he was present at dif- 
ferent places, leagues apart, at the same instant ; was 
occasionally crowned with a halo of light; produced 
fine musical concerts on invisible instruments played 
by unseen hands ; could read the thoughts of others, 
describe events happening at the moment in distant 
continents, and was endowed with the gift of proph- 
esy. The proof of these " heroic " virtues was satis- 
factory to the sovereign pontiff, and Anchieta was 
beatified accordingly. 

Among the late accessions to the saintly circle, the 
martyr Philomena is, perhaps, the favorite, and her 
praises have been sung even by Protestant poets. 
The story is so generally known that we shall proba- 
bly surprise few of our readers by saying that there 
is no historical proof, nor even a tradition, of the ex- 
istence of such a person. Still the history is curious, 
and deserves something more than a passing mention. 
We shall therefore give a few details from the most 
authentic possible source, the " Historical Relation of 
the Translation of the Sacred Body of St. Philomena, 
Virgin and Martyr," by Dr. Francesco di Lucia, the 
first private possessor of the relics, published at Ben- 
evento, in three volumes, octavo, in 1834, and vise 
by authority of the Archbishop, and the Apostolic 
Delegate of Benevento. The work is written, as the 



From the Founding of the Tesuits to Pius IX, 93 

author justly boasts, with such "simplicity as to be 
intelligible to the commonest capacity, even of a silly 
woman/' ad ogni triviale ingegno^ anche (T icna fern- 
ininella. In the year 1805, this reverend gentleman, 
while at Rome on a professional "commission for 
procuring relics, especially of martyrs," con impegno 
di sagre reliquie^ spedalmente di martiri^ received 
an offer of a very desirable subject, being no less 
than the entire skeleton of a female martyr, but was 
obliged to decline the proposal at first for want of 
suflScient funds.^ Afterward encouragement from 
friends, and the force of a " clear inspiration," chiara 
isjpirazione^ moved him to accept the offer with the 
single stipulation that the relic should be a warrant- 
ed " body of a holy [female] martyr, with a proper 
name," and " so," continues he, " my mind was re- 
lieved of all perplexity." He proceeds to inform his 
readers that when the bones of unknown martyrs are 
discovered, it is usual to bestow names upon them 

* Rome drives a thriving trade in relics, and makes as good mer- 
chandise of the bones of Christian martyrs as the Egyptians do of 
the mummies of heathen Pharaohs and Potiphars. During the year 
1874, straws from the dungeon mattress of the *' Prisoner of the Vati- 
can," Pius IX., lately visited in his darksome cell by a body of Ameri- 
can pilgrims, all, we believe, of the Irish *' persuasion," w^ere much 
in request for exportation to France, where they compete in the mar- 
ket with a native product, the holy water of Lourdes, to an extent 
alarming to the patriotism of French commercial religion. 



94 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

under a pontifical license; but in the case of St. 
Philomena, the real name was made out satisfacto- 
rily to the faithful, as we shall see hereafter. The 
reverend customer was taken to one of the public 
treasuries of relics in the custody of Monsignor Pon- 
zetti, where, among many boxes of bones, he found 
three with names of reputed martyrs, one of these 
being that of St. Philomena. The " sweetness and 
suavity of the name" struck him powerfully. He 
was at once filled with an irresistible longing for 
these remains, and was indiscreet enough to betray 
his anxiety by the expression of his countenance, 
which, as he naively says, was observed by the guard- 
ian of the relics. He had little hope of accomplish- 
ing his wishes, because, on account of the occupancy 
of the city by the " enemy," the then infidel French, 
there was just at that time a great dearth, scarsezza, 
of relics with names at Pome, and good merchant- 
able articles of this description were quoted at high 
prices accordingly. But the person who had intro- 
duced him to the monsignore promised him the 
body, and our hero committed the negotiation for it 
to this disinterested friend as a mezzano^ or broker, 
which was, probably enough, his regular profession. 
The wily monsignore soon sent Dr. Di Lucia a mes- 
sage through the broker, informing him that he had 



From the Founding of the Jesuits to Pius IX, 95 

discerned visible tokens that the saint herself wished 
to accompany him to his province, and advising him 
by all means to secure the prize. He was naturally 
overjoyed at this intelligence, and at once closed the 
bargain for the remains, the delivery of which was 
promised for the next Saturday. But when 

" Cool reflection at length came along," 

Monsignor Ponzetti felt that he had committed a 
commercial indiscretion in agreeing to part with so 
valuable a treasure to an eager customer on such 
easy conditions, and, by the advice of " crafty coun- 
selors " of his bureau, as Dr. Di Lucia shrewdly sus- 
pects, he flatly refused to fulfill his promise, and aft- 
er much haggling and many shifts, to the bitter dis- 
gust, amaro disgusto^ of our simple friend, he tanta- 
lized him by fobbing off upon him the body of a sup- 
posed martyr of an unmelodious name, and of com- 
paratively small account, Santa Ferma. But this was 
a mere fetch, for as the Eev. Dr. Di Lucia, seeing, as 
he thought, that things would be no better, was be- 
ginning to reconcile himself to the acceptance of the 
substitute, and to make the most of a bad bargain, he 
learned that certain " most honored persons," includ- 
ing the broker, had succeeded in securing St. Philo- 
mena, not indeed for him, but for a friend of his, a 



96 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

Neapolitan bishop, then, by the merest chance, lodg- 
ing in the same house with him, and the sacred rel- 
ics were actually brought to the bishop's apartment. 
This, of course, rekindled our hero's passionate de- 
sires, and after much tribulation an exchange of rel- 
ics was effected on " terms not made public," but 
probably on the payment of a handsome considera- 
tion by way of boot, and the bishop and the doctor 
prepared to start for Naples together, in the same 
post-coach with their treasures. In stowing the lug- 
gage the postman had placed the case of St. Philome- 
na's bones under tlie seat of the bishop, that of St. 
Ferma under Dr. Di Lucia's. The bishop, who was 
of "majestic" and voluminous obesity, was hoisted 
into the coach with difficulty, and had hardly taken 
his seat when he received several hard thumps — 
probably " spirit-knocks " — on his gouty legs. Wheth- 
er the saint resented the trick that had been played 
on her votary, and did not like the proximity of one 
of the parties to the imposition, does not appear ; but 
the knocks were several times sharply repeated, and 
his reverence, sore in the shins and a little conscience- 
stricken perhaps, was convinced that they came from 
the case of bones, though assured that it was so firm- 
ly chocked that any movement of it was impossible. 
He insisted on the removal of this troublesome neigh- 



From the Founding of the Jesuits to Pius IX, 97 

bor, and the case was transferred to a more satisfac- 
tory position^ and, being tightly lashed with cords, 
remained quiet till it reached Naples. 

The name of the martyr was discovered by an in- 
scription painted on three fragmentary slabs of baked 
clay found near the relics, and containing the words 
or syllables "Lumena^fi^pax^ te^ cum^^ with represen- 
tations of several arrows, an object called a scoui'ge, 
and other symbols. Incredulous persons suggested 
that all this was hardly sufficient to prove that the 
bones were those of St. Philomena, a Christian mar- 
tyr never before heard of; but the solid argument 
that the testimony was quite as clear and conclusive 
as in most other cases of the invention of relics was 
held to be a satisfactory reply to these captious ob- 
jections. But the relics, though thus proved to be 
genuine, still lacked a history, without which their 
acquisition might turn out but an indifferent specu- 
lation to the purchaser. This embarrassment w^as 
happily removed by the saint herself, who complai- 
santly appeared to a " most zealous ecclesiastic," ze- 
lantissimo sacerdote^ and recited the story of her 
life, the most important fact of which was, that she 
was put to death for refusing the hand of a heathen 
emperor. This devout and favored priest communi- 
cated the revelation to our author, both orally and in 

5 



98 MedioBval aiid Modern Samts and Miracles. 

writing, so that the chain of evidence is complete and 
irrefragable. After this it is perhaps superfluous to 
add that the martyr has furnished abundant addition- 
al evidence of her sanctity by an almost unbroken 
succession of miracles from the translation of her 
relics to the present day.*^ In fact, the saint appears 
to have given her votaries rather too much of a good 
thing, and Dr. Di Lucia evidently thinks that N'e quid 
nimis is a rule she would do well to follow. " I am 
obliged to confess," says he — vol. ii., p. 91 — " that her 
miracles have lost something of their prestige, am- 
mirahilitd^ from their very frequency." 

The most conspicuous, as well as the grossest, case 
of pure material worship in modern times is that of 
the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This 
cultus was organized and zealously propagated by the 
Jesuits, and, tliough lately hard pushed by the rival 
pretensions of the Virgin of La Salette, and now 

* St. Philomena, who, as well as Anchieta, is complimented with 
the appellation of "the thaumaturgist of her age," appears to have 
recently transferred the sphere of her operations to the congenial soil 
of France, and to have formed a working partnership with the Rev. 
Mr. Vianney, who died in 1859 as curate of Ars, a small town in the 
French Department of Ain, and who has acquired an immense local 
reputation by the miracles he is performing in anticipation of canoni- 
zation. The devotees who make the pilgrimage to La Salette often 
visit the tomb of the curate, and offer up their prayers to him in con- 
junction with St. Philomena, as a preparation for the higher exercises 
of La Salette. 



From the Founding of the Jesuits to Pius IX, 99 

more especially by those of Our Lady of Lourdes, it 
has loDg formed a leading feature in the machinery, 
the deus ex machina^ of the scenic manifestations of 
the Society of Jesus. Pascal's celebrated " Provincial 
Letters," the last of which appeared in 1657, had 
given the order an almost fatal blow, and its mana- 
gers saw that nothing could save it but a vigorous 
effort to divert the mind of the Catholic world from 
dw^elling on the moral considerations so powerfully 
urged by their great assailant, and turn the current 
of religious thought into a new and more sensational 
direction. About the year 1670, the revelations of a 
weak-minded nun, Marguerite Marie Alacoque, suf- 
fering under an aggravated form of heart-disease, 
came very opportunely to their relief, if not indeed, 
as there is strong reason to believe, directly inspired 
by the Jesuit La Colombi&re, confessor of Mary Ala- 
coque and other nuns in the Yisitandine Convent of 
Paray-le-Monial, where Mary was professed."^ Asse- 

* Loyola had positively forbidden the members of the company to 
assume the control of female convents ; but the good fathers had man- 
aged to evade the prohibition with their usual dexterity. They had 
allowed the bishop to appoint other religious directors for their con- 
vents ; but every nun had the right to choose an extraordinary confess- 
or^ and they contrived in almost all cases to have this choice fall upon 
one of themselves. 

Mary Alacoque's revelations on the subject of obedience to her spir- 
itual superiors could have been inspired only by a Jesuit oracle. 



100 MedicBVal and Modern Samts and Miracles. 

line, the author of the remarkable historical essay, 
"Marie Alacoque et le Sacre Coeur," agrees with 
some earlier writers in supposing that the Jesuits 
were indebted to the writings of Goodwin, a celebrated 
English Puritan divine of the seventeenth century, for 
the invention of this new and degrading form of su- 
perstitious homage. He asserts that Goodwin preach- 
ed that the heart of Jesus, " that part of the body in 
which Christ had deigned to incarnate himself," 
ought to be an object of special worship; and for 
proof of this affirmation he refers in general terms to 
a Latin translation of Goodwin's " The Heart of Christ 
in Heaven toward Sinners on Earth," which — as he 
says, has been shown by Father Giorgi, an opponent 
of the Jesuits — proves an entire conformity between 
Goodwin's views of the Sacred Heart and those of 
the nun. 

La Colombiere had been chaplain to the Duchess 
of York after the Restoration, and, doubtless, must 
have at least heard of the opinions of Goodwin, then 
considered the ablest defender of the Puritan faith 

Jesus appeared to Mary Alacoque, and said to her, * ' I am pleased 
that you prefer the will of your superiors to mine when they forbid 
you to do what I should have commanded." 

'' The splendid simplicity of obedience is lost when we ask ourselves 
whether the thing commanded us is right or wrong." See AsseUne, 
" Marguerite Marie Alacoque et le Sacre Coeur," Paris, 1873. 



From the Founding of the Jesuits to Pius IX, 101 

in England. La Colombiere, it is said, suggested to 
his brethren that the culte grossier advocated by 
Goodwin would appeal powerfully to the vulgar im- 
agination, and prove an efficient instrument in the 
dexterous hands of the society. The Jesuits indig- 
nantly repelled Father Giorgi's charge of theolog- 
ical plagiarism, and claimed for themselves, in the 
name of \heiY protegee^ entire originality of invention 
in the new revelation. The point is of interest in 
the history of modern religious opinion, and we have 
taken the pains to investigate it by an examination 
of Goodwin's "Heart of Christ," and his other 
works, the original editions of which we have had 
an opportunity of consulting. Our judgment is cer- 
tainly not biased by partiality for the Jesuits, but 
simple justice requires us to say that this charge of 
borrowing heretical opinions from a Puritan, urged 
against them by their opponents, seems to us with- 
out any solid foundation. Goodwin, indeed, held, in 
common with most Christians of all churches at that 
period, 'that Christ had risen in the flesh, and has 
a perpetual corporeal existence in heaven. He also 
entertained the then common opinion, that the heart 
is the seat of the affections ; and he argues that all 
the bodily organs of Christ are still acted upon by 
his emotions in the same way as during his incarna- 



102 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

tion on earth, except that his celestial frame is free 
from the grossnesses and weaknesses to which his 
earthly body was subject. In accordance with this 
analogy between the modes of Christ's terrestrial and 
his heavenly being, Goodwin maintains that his 
moral essence, though exempt from all painful pas- 
sions and disturbances, is full of love and compassion 
for men, and of hatred of sin; and, consequently, 
that the Redeemer in heaven sympathizes with fallen 
and suffering humanity in a mode and to an extent 
of which a mere disembodied spirit could not be ca- 
pable. But we are unable to find in the works of 
Goodwin any thing which countenances the worship 
of Christ's body as distinct from his spiritual being, 
still less any thing recommending or sanctioning the 
adoration of any organ or attribute of his person. On 
the other hand, Father Gallifet declares in his " Ex- 
cellence de la Devotion au Sacrd Coeur," as quoted 
by Asseline: "We mean the heart of Jesus in its 
proper and natural, not at all in its metaphorical, sig- 
nification. Jesus Christ speaks of his heart, taken in 
a real sense. This is evident from his exposing and 
showing his heart. It is this heart which he wills us 
to honor and to celebrate. It is the sensuous, sensi- 
ble, object of the devotion which Christ is now estab- 
lishing."— Asseline, p. 39. So in a devotional man- 



From the Founding of the Jesuits to Pius IX. 103 

iial, published at Saint Sulpice, in 1782, it is said: 
"This devotion is addressed solely to the heart of 
Jesus Christ, without any reference to the rest of 
the sacred body. Heart must be taken in its nat- 
ural signification. This is the sensuous, sensihle^ ob- 
ject of the devotion which Jesus wills to establish." 
Many writers on the Devotion to the Sacred Heart 
employ more cautious language ; but it is perfectly 
clear, from the general tenor of the devotional treatises 
on this subject, that they are really advocating a strict- 
ly material worship. But while we acquit Goodwin 
of having originated this cultus, we must admit that 
there is enough of materialism, not particularly in 
his views, but in those of all who believe in the res- 
urrection and permanent existence of the body of 
Christ, to furnish a point d^ajpjpui for Jesuit inge- 
nuity to rest a new fetichism upon. Although, there- 
fore, Goodwin's works can not be cited as the origi- 
nal source of the devotion to the heart of Christ, it 
is possible that the wide -spread reputation of his 
writings may have induced La Colombi^re to study 
them, and that he derived from them suggestions 
which he and his brethren perverted to profitable ac- 
count in bringing forward a new object of adoration. 
Whatever may have been the origin of this new 
dispensation — for in practice it has been little less — 



1 04 MedicBval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

it is perhaps the masterpiece of Jesuit invention, and, 
both directly and through the proselytism of the 
schools established in its name in Europe and the 
United States, it has done more to revive the flag- 
ging zeal of indifferent Catholics, and to secure per- 
verts from Protestantism, than any other contrivance 
in the whole enginery of the society. 

The literature of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart, 
which is surpassed in folly, vulgarity, and indecency 
by few chapters in the history of the religious aber- 
rations of the human intellect and heart, is well ex- 
emplified in the early unmutilated editions of the 
"Yie de Marie Alacoque," by Languet, Bishop of 
Soissons, a man despised by his contemporaries for 
his stupidity, detested by the clergy of his own dio- 
cese for his brutality and perverseness, and severely 
condemned by the most enlightened of his episco- 
pal brethren.^ The work is, indeed, well worthy of 

* De Caylus, Bishop of Auxerre, wrote thus of Languet's book : 
"The life of Mary Alacoque is undoubtedly, in all respects, one of 
the worst books of its class that have ever appeared ; it is revolting to 
every one, whether in the Church or out of it. It has roused the in- 
dignation and horror of good men. Libertines have made it the sub- 
ject of raillery. I do not think it becoming even to speak of the am- 
orous dialogues which are supposed to pass between Jesus Christ and 
Mary Alacoque ; nor can I dwell upon the visions of this girl — vis- 
ions always full of extravagance and impiety. Everywhere, in the 
style of this prelate, Jesus Christ employs the language of human pas- 
sion to declare his love to Mary Alacoque. I am far from believing 



From the Founding of the Jesuits to Pius IX. 105 



such a character. Eidicule and criticism compelled. 
Laiiguet to retrench some absurdities in later is- 

that such forms of speech — as sensual as they are indecent — may not 
mislead many souls and make them mistake the illusions of the flesh 
for the movements of the spirit." 

The following extracts will sei-ve to show that the judgment of the 
Bishop of Auxerre was not too severe : 

Marie says of herself that at the age of four years she had a lively 
sense of the virtue of chastity, and "the sight of men so wounded her 
modesty, and alarmed her innocence," that she would have fled into 
the desert but for the fear of meeting them even there. — Languet, 
lib. i., ch. iii. 

"Our Lord showed me that this was the day of our spiritual be- 
trothal ; he afterward made me understand that he wished me to taste 
all that was most sweet in the tender caresses of his love. In fact, 
these divine caresses were from this time forward so overpowering 
that they made me quite beside myself, and rendered me almost inca- 
pable of any physical exertion, and it was a subject of such strange 
embarrassment to me that I dared not show myself." — Languet, lib. 
ii., ch. xix. 

Jesus presses the head of Mary Alacoque tenderly to his own breast, 
addresses her in impassioned language, and reveals to her his purpose 
of estabHshing the worship of the Sacred Heart. Still more, he opens 
the side of the Yisitandine, takes out her heart very carefully, places 
it by the side of his own, "which, through the wound in his side, ap- 
peared to me as bright as the sun, or as a glowing furnace," and, after 
having given it this taste of flame, he replaces it in the breast of his 
well-beloved servant. — Languet, lib. iv., ch. li. 

At a mass which he was celebrating for the sistei*hood, Father La 
Colombiere experienced an astonishing movement of divine love. 
"At the same time, our Lord showed Sister Mary his divine heart 
under the symbol of a glowing furnace ; but she saw also two other 
hearts which were about to unite there and lose themselves in it, and 
at the same moment he caused her to hear these words from within, 
'It is thus that my holy love unites these three holy hearts forever.* 
And two of these hearts were that of Father La Colombiere and her 

5- 



106 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

sues,^ but the book, as it is now republished and cir- 
culated by tens of thousands, is fit for no readei^ 
but the inmates of an asvlum for cretins. 



own. Margaret hastened to relate the fact to the Jesuit, ' who was 
much confused by 27. '" — Languet, lib. iv., ch. Ivii. 

*'The Sovereign High-priest," says Marguerite, "requested me to 
make in his favor a written testament or bequest, entire and without 
reserve, of all that I might do or suffer, and of all the prayers or spir- 
itual benefit which others might offer or obtain for me, either during 
my life or after my death. He told me to ask my superior if she 
would serve as notary in drawing up this act, for which he promised 
to pay her substantially ; if she refused, I was to address myself to 
Father La Colombiere. But my superior accepted." — Languet, lib, 
iv., ch. Ixxii. 

Jesus, delighted at this bequest, and not wishing to be in arrears to 
her, dictates to Margaret — who writes all with her own blood — the 
following instrument drawn up in celestial notary style: *'I consti- 
tute thee heir of my heart for time and for eternity, permitting thee 
to make use of it according to thy desire. I promise thee that thou 
shalt never lack succor until I lack power. Thou shalt be forever the 
beloved disciple, the plaything of my heart's good pleasure, the holo- 
caust of its love. That alone shall be the object of all thy desires. It 
shall repair and supply all thy deficiencies, and acquit thee of all thy 
obligations." — Languet, lib. v., ch. Ixxii. 

The Mother of God appeared to Marie Alacoque one day with her 
Divine Son in her lap. She presented the babe to her faithful disci- 
ple, and allowed her to fondle it and hold it in her arms. — Languet, 
lib. iii., ch. xliv. 

* Such, for example, as when he makes Christ say that it is enough 
not to hate God, and when he relates that the Virgin, after having 
swept the dormitory for Sister Margaret, while she was playing the 
truant, administered to the lazy girl, on her return, two sound boxes 
on the ear. — Asseline, p. 33. 



Momish Hagiology under Pope Pius IX. 107 



III. 

EOMISH HAGIOLOGY UNDER POPE PIUS IX. 

After the census of Great Britain in 1871, Car- 
lyle said, "England has twenty -three million souls, 
mostly fools." The average standard of intelligence 
is not higher in France, we suppose, than among ces 
estimables insulaires on the other side of the Chan- 
nel. Religious gobe-7noitches certainly seem to be 
more common among the Gauls than among the Sas- 
senachs; but such monstrous follies as those of Paray- 
le-Monial were long found too nauseating a dose for 
the receptivity of even the most superstitious classes 
in France. The genuineness of Mary Alacoque's in- 
spirations were strenuously denied by the most judi- 
cious portion of the French clergy, and the question 
was acrimoniously debated at Kome, with varying 
success, for two centuries. Pius IX., ever " good at 
need," on the 23d of August, 1846, declared by sol- 
emn decree that the nun had practiced the " heroic " 
virtues ascribed to her; on the 24th of May, 1864, 
by another decree, aflarmed the truth and reality of 



108 3IecU(jeval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

the miracles attributed to her intercession ; and on the 
19th of August, 1864, pronounced her beatification. 
The devotees of the Sacre Coeur were not satisfied 
with this simple recognition by the papacy, and they 
have long been agitating for a more solemn and for- 
mal act which should completely identify this devo- 
tion with the highest w^orship authorized by the Rom- 
ish Church. The signatures (entered in thirty mag- 
nificent volumes) of twelve million petitioners for 
such an act,^ including seven hundred bishops, heads 
of religious houses, and other ecclesiastical dignita- 
ries, were presented to the pope, who, on the 22d of 
April, 1875, pronounced a decree consecrating the 
Universal Catholic Church to the Sacred Heart, thus 
making the acceptance of this devotion a cardinal 



* When we remember that as late as 1867 the Minister of Public 
Instruction reported that there were districts in France in which six- 
ty-seven per cent, of the bridegrooms and ninety-eight per cent, of 
the brides married at the municipalities were unable to write their 
names, we can not help doubting whether these twelve million signa- 
tures were all genuine. Perhaps it is a case of miraculous multiplica- 
'tion, or we may suppose that most of the names were originally sub- 
scribed to petitions to other authorities, and for other purposes, and 
have been judiciously employed to strengthen this by transfer, as in 
the case of indulgences per modum suffragii. But if they were gen- 
uine, the fact is even more disgraceful. That one-third of the entire 
population could be induced to subscribe such a petition would be 
an evidence of a state of religious, moral, and intellectual culture more 
pitiable than the blankest ignorance. 



Homish Hagiology under Pope Pius IX, 109 

feature of the religion of Eome. On the 28th of 
April, this decree, and the formal Act of Dedication 
issued by the Congregation of Rites on the 26th of 
the same month, were published in the Osservatore 
Momano^ and in the Voce delta Veritci; and on the 
1st of June the cardinal vicar issued an Invito Sacro^ 
exhorting the faithful throughout the Catholic world, 
in the name of the Holy Father, to recite the formu- 
la of consecration to the Sacred Heart on the 16th of 
June, "the thirtieth anniversary of his [Pope Pius 
IX.'s] assumption of the Supreme Pontificate, and 
second centenary of the revelation made by the Di- 
vine Eedeemer to the blessed Marguerite to propagate 
the Devotion to his Sacred Heart." 

The dedication was formally celebrated in St. Pe- 
ter's and the other principal churches of Pome, and 
the services in the Gesu, the official church of the 
Jesuits, were conducted with the utmost pomp and 
splendor. There were pilgrimages to Paray-le-Mo- 
nial and other celebrations of the occasion in France, 
and the new " national " church on Montmartre was 
formally dedicated to the Sacre Coeur by Cardinal 
Archbishop Guibert in person. 

But, in spite of all this, there was somewhere a 
difficulty not yet explained ; for, notwithstanding the 
notoriousness of these facts, the Semaine Eeligieuse^ 



110 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

a journal published at Paris under the authority of 
Cardinal Guibert himself, asserted that the pope put 
by the thirty volumes of signatures, with the decla- 
ration nil innovandum^ and refused to comply with 
the request. French journalism, including even the 
Journal des Dehats^ accepted this authoritative de- 
nial of the consecration, and it was for some days 
generally believed in Paris that no such decree had 
been pronounced. What does the "candid" Dr. 
Newman think of such proceedings ? 

It is a fact which does little credit to the intelli- 
gence of the governing classes in France, that the 
Devotion to the Sacred Heart has been accepted by 
them as emphatically an aristocratic religion. Its 
early annals belong to the Golden Age of French his- 
tory, when the king was the State, the nobility the 
nation, and the struggling mass of humanity beneath 
had no recognized existence for any other purpose 
than laboring for their feudal lords, lay and ecclesi- 
astical, paying taxes, and serving as foot-soldiers in 
the wars. It was invented under the Grand Mo- 
narque ; its origin was very nearly contemporaneous 
with the crowning glory of French Catholicism, the 
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes ; and it owes its 
conception to the same influence — the inspiration of 
the Jesuit fraternity. It was especially patronized 



JRomish Hagiology under Pope Pius IX. Ill 

by \hefinejleur of the old regime^ and at the pres- 
ent day every legitimist pays his most fervent adora- 
tion at the shrine of the Sacred Heart. It has now 
a vast importance as a political engine. Every one 
of the twelve million zealous worshipers who lately 
subscribed a petition to Pius IX. to dedicate the Uni- 
versal Church to the Sacred Heart is pledged to use 
his utmost efforts not only for the extinction of here- 
sy, but for the restoration of the temporal power of 
the papacy, and in general for the return of the old- 
en line of the Bourbon dynasty.^ 

* Louis XIV., whose reign has lately been extolled by Monsignor 
Nardi as a model of truly Christian, prosperous, and beneficent govern- 
ment, was a most devout and constant worshiper according to the 
discipline of the Romish Church. His numerous works of superero- 
gation, including the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the dragon- 
wac?e5 against the Protestants of his kingdom, the judicial murders of 
persons professing the Reformed religion, and other pious acts scarce- 
ly less praiseworthy than the slaughter of St. Bartholomew's Day un- 
der Charles IX., had inspired him with a conscious feeling of a riglit 
to the divine favor in all his enterprises. Hence it was not strange 
that in the reverses of his old age he should, referring to these meritori- 
ous works, have pathetically exclaimed, " How can God treat me thus, 
after all I have done for him !" Extremes meet. King Louis, like 
many a Romish zealot of the present day, though a virulent hater of 
Protestantism, was very tolerant of infidelity. When one of his gen- 
erals, at the commencement of a campaign, proposed to offer a con- 
fidential post on his staff to an oflScer not conspicuous for his piety : 
*'That will never do," said the king; **he is of the Religion" [a 
Protestant]. *^ Of the Religion, your majesty !" replied the general ; 
*'he does not even believe in a God." ^'Oh, very well," said the 
king, ** then you may take him." See Appendix VIIL 



112 MecUceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

In all the pilgrimages to Paray-le-Monial, in all 
the processions in honor of Mary Alacoque, princes, 
dukes, marquises, counts, viscounts, and barons, with 
their spouses and their varletrj, largely figure ; and 
though it is not as universally true of the French- 
man as of the Englishman that he "loves a lord," 
yet all " right-thinking " people in France are much 
influenced by the evident predilection of those high- 
est in blood and in fashion for the royal religion.^ 
The participation of officers of high rank, in full reg- 
imentals, in these manifestations is, to a certain ex- 
tent, official; for military escorts and salutes, with 
martial music, are an oblige accompaniment of ev- 
ery ecclesiastical and civil demonstration in France. 
We do not know that the worship of the Sacred 
Heart is yet a part of the general consigns of the 

* France professes to recognize the legal equality of Protestant and 
Catholic churches, and has no national, no State religion ; but the re- 
cent action of the Legislative Assembly, prompted by Jesuit influence, 
in declaring the construction of a church dedicated to the Sacred 
Heart, on the heights of Montmartre, to be a work of "public utility," 
is very nearly equivalent to a formal recognition of that devotion as 
the religion of the State. By virtue of that declaration, the Archbish- 
op of Paris, as trustee of the projected church, is empowered to ex- 
propriate private property which he may deem convenient for its use. 
The Univers of February, 1875, states that eighteen parcels of real es- 
tate, amounting in alT to about thirty acres, will be taken from their 
proprietors for that purpose. — Michaud, L'J^glise CathoUque-Ro- 
maine, p. 179. Would a similar declaration have been made in favor 
of a Protestant Church ? 



Romish Hagiology under Pope Pius IX, 113 

French soldiery, but the military are making them- 
selves extremely conspicuous, even when out of the 
ranks, as ardent supporters of Jesuit principles and 
policy. As a general rule, soldiers rely chiefly on 
the ultima ratio as a means of producing moral and 
political conviction, and think it superfluous to cul- 
tivate the arts of oratory; but in the present mili- 
tary service of France every pompon "hath found a 
tongue," and many of the most efficient apostles of 
the Sacred Heart and the Virgin of Lourdes, as well 
as of sound principles of civil government, are to be 
found among gentlemen who trail the sabre and glit- 
ter in stamped buttons and scarlet trousers. Captain 
de Mun, of the French army, is one of the most con- 
spicuous among the oratorical champions of "tlie 
throne and the altar." In a speech delivered in 1873, 
Captain de Mun said : "I affirm that the brutal dog- 
ma of equality is a lie ; I denounce it as a danger 

It has given birth to the insane theory according to 
which all offices ought to be open to all, and that all 
have the right to participate in the government of 
the commonwealth.. ... It is not true that the di- 
rection of the commonwealth, the exercise of author- 
ity, is not the lawful privilege, the hereditary prerog- 
ative, of certain classes After the civil consti- 
tution of the clergy, the greatest crime of the Revo- 



114 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

lution was the abolition of the corporations [trade- 
guilds which had the exclusive right of exercising 

their callings, according to their own regulations] 

The day will come when the vile horde of revolu- 
tionists will be reduced to utter the imprecation 

of the apostate, ' Galilsean, thou hast conquered !' 
Ah, for them no mercy; they are not the people, 
they are hell itself." In 1874, Captain de Mun 
preached a lay sermon to a working-men's club, in 
which he defended the Papal Syllabus ; and in 1874, 
at the congress at Lyons, Captain de La Tour, of 
Chambly, argued that social doctrine was sufficiently 
defined by the Syllabus. Many other military men 
take part in behalf of Eome in public politico-relig- 
ious discussion ; and the Jesuits, who do not scruple 
to declare that the great question between the Church 
and the world is to be decided by physical force, are 
doing their utmost to flatter and cajole the army, and 
to strengthen their influence with that branch of the 
public service in France. Cardinal de la Tour d'Au- 
vergne. Bishop of Arras, wrote to the clergy of his 
diocese in reference to the election of president of 
the republic in 1848, "I shall vote for a sabre;" 
and the Bishop of Angers declared, in 1875, " The 
sword surmounted by the cross is the true symbol of 
Christian civilization." The Jesuits have organized 



. Homish Hagiology under Pope Pius IX. 115 

an association under the name of The Militia of the 
Pope, which has a great number of members in the 
religious seminaries. In that of St. Pierre-sous-Eo- 
dez, in 1868, out of 184 pupils, 177 had been in the 
papal military service, as zouaves, soldiers of the le- 
gion of Antibes, etc., and the 260 pupils of the semi- 
nary of Notre Dame de Polignan had all, without ex- 
ception, served in one or the other of those capaci- 
ties. The UniverSj the leading ultramontane journal 
of France, declared, on the 18th of February, 1875, 
that the Company of Jesus " is henceforth intimately 
connected with our military school," that of St. Cyr ; 
and a noticeable fact connected with this point is, 
that though in 1859 the military school of St. Cyr re- 
ceived but five pupils who had been trained by the 
Jesuits, the number of their eleves admitted at St. 
Cyr rose to 24 in 1864, to 49 in 1869, to 99, besides 
35 received at the Polytechnic School, in the academ- 
ic year 1873-'74. From 1854 to 1874, out of 3207 
pupils of the single Jesuit school of the St. Genevieve, 
more than one-third passed into the Government mil- 
itary and naval academies ; and in 1875 no fewer than 
688 officers, who had been prepared at this one school, 
were serving in the army."^ 

* Recent statistics inform us that at the end of the year 1875 there 



116 MedicBval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

The success of the schools of the Sacred Heart, as 
instruments of religious propagandisra, has encour- 
aged the Jesuits to renewed effort to secure a monopo- 
ly of public instruction throughout the Christian world. 
Their triumph in the struggle against the national 
universities of France, in the passage of the recent 
law permitting the establishment of what, by an odd 
perversion of language, are called " free " universities, 
is a signal proof of the controlling influence exercised 
by the society in France. But this is only a first 
step. The next is to be the legal suppression of all 
public schools except those controlled and administer- 
ed by the Church. Pius IX. declared to the Emper- 
or Maximilian that ''all instruction, whether public 
or jprivate^ ought to be directed and supervised by 
the ecclesiastical authority ;"'^ and in 1868 the Bishop 
of Perigueux informed his clergy that " it is upon 
the Church, and her alone.^ that Christ has conferred 
the right, and imposed the duty, of imparting instruc- 
tion to men Every man engaged in teaching 

is in conscience bound to accept her supervision and 
control." Citations of this kind from authoritative 

were in France 140,000 friars and nuns, and that out of 447,112 
girls in the schools 356,000 were taught by nuns, and only 91,000 in 
lay schools. 

* The Austrian Concordat of 1855, repudiated by the emperor in 
1870, contained a provision to this effect. 



Homish Hagiology under Pope Pius IX, 117 

sources might be multiplied indefinitely ; but though 
the pretensions of the Eomish Church in this respect 
have been so often and so fully exposed, it is not yet 
a work of supererogation to adduce proof of the ar- 
rogance of her demands, or even, unhappily, of the 
portentous success with which these claims have been 
urged in many countries on both sides of the Atlan- 
tic."^ The tendency and the deliberate aim of Jesuit 
instruction is everywhere the same — the suppression 
of the individual conscience and reason, of the sense 
of personal responsibility to any authority except that 
of the priest, and the substitution of a blind obedi- 
ence to ecclesiastical dictation as the only rule of 
Christian faith, the only principle of moral action. 
The layman is to be to the priest what each member 
of the Society of Jesus is to his hierarchical superior, 
a soulless, will-less creature — not a person, but a thing 
— or, to use the language of one of their own apostles, 
jproinde ao cadaver^ an object as pliable and unre- 

* The recent Romish attacks upon the public schools in the United 
States, and the arrogant demand of the priesthood for the appropria- 
tion of a large share of the school-fund to their sectarian purposes, 
are well known. The conduct of the Roman Catholic clergy at Mont- 
real, in refusing burial to a Catholic for having belonged to a society 
whose library contained books condemned by the priesthood, is one 
of the most daring attempts to defy the law, the government, and the 
principles of Christian charity which we have heard of in North 
America. 



118 Ilediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

sisting as a corpse. The thousand-times-repeated ex- 
posures of Jesuit policy from Pascal to our own day 
are generally little known in England and America, 
but there are many recent publications on this sub- 
ject which deserve the most serious consideration by 
every friend of human liberty. Among these, be- 
sides Gladstone's " The Vatican Decrees " and " Vati- 
canism," La velaye's " Protestantism and Catholicism," 
with preface by Gladstone, are the w^ork of Michaud, 
"L'Eglise Catholique Romaine en France," already 
cited ; Jung's " La France et Rome ;" the " Histoire 
Politique des Papes," by Lanfrey, the author of the 
scathing exposure of the life and character of the 
First Napoleon; " L'Eglise et les Philosophes du dix- 
huitieme Si^cle," also by Lanfrey ; and the works of 
Gasparin — a writer inspired by an eminently enlight- 
ened conscience — " L'Ennemi de la Famille, Innocent 
III.," and his two posthumous volumes, " La France."^ 



* We will not be so disingenuous as to refer to the fomous *'Monita 
Secreta" as a genuine set of rules drawn up for the conduct of the So- 
ciety of Jesuits by its authorized heads, but it is not unjust to recom- 
mend it as a fair exposure of the principles by which its members are 
guided. It is curious that this little volume disappears from the mar- 
ket as fast as new editions are published. The suppression of dan- 
gerous books by buying up the copies, requiring penitents to surrender 
or destroy them, and by other more questionable practices, accounts 
for the scarcity of many works of which large editions are known to 
have been printed. See Appendixes IX., X. 



Romish Hagiology under Pope Pius ZZ". 119 

The free institutions of Europe and America are 
in serious clanger from, we will not say the relig- 
iouSy but from what, for want of a better word, we 
are forced to call the sectarian, indifference of Chris- 
tian and especially of political men. While we 
would be the first to denounce sectarian intolerance 
even on the part of Protestants, we do think that 
every intelligent man is bound to resist the first ap- 
proaches of ecclesiastical encroachment and usurpa- 
tion ; and, now that the Vatican has openly proclaim- 
ed itself the enemy of all human liberty, it is the 
first among the political duties of a freeman to be 
on his guard against those who, by both open and 
secret measures, are assiduously laboring to sap the 
only foundations on which freedom can securely rest. 
The apathy and indifference of the Northern United 
States, of politicians who refused to believe that the 
rebellious threats and secession movements of the 
South were earnestly meant, well nigh cost the life 
of the nation ; and the wounds received by the Union 
in that struggle will not be healed in a century. The 
danger of papal aggression on American liberties is as 
real, as obvious, and we may almost say as imminent, 
as was the pro -slavery war of 1861 a twelvemonth 
before it broke out. Let Americans jealous of their 
institutions be warned in time ! 



120 Medmval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

We have alluded to the arrogant claims of Eome 
to the exclusive control of the instruction of the 
young as one of her pretended " liberties." Not to 
speak further of the political agitation of this ques- 
tion in England and the United States, we think par- 
ticular attention ought to be drawn to the mischiev- 
ous character of the schools of the Sacred Heart and 
other institutions under Jesuit or at least monastic 
superintendence. Parents who care more for man- 
ners than for morals, and wish to prepare their daugh- 
ters to figure in society rather than to form a true 
womanly character by solid instruction and such a 
moral education as recluses and celibates can never 
impart, are very often seduced by the showy but shal- 
low and hollow training of the schools we refer to.* 
These schools all profess not to interfere in the least 
with the religion of their Protestant pupils, and their 
teachers are artful enough to conceal the ingenious 
devices by which they implant in the youthful mind 
germs which may lie dormant for years, but seldom 
fail to reveal themselves as noxious weeds in later 
life. The imperceptible bending of the twig in girl- 

* The Visitan dines have always been famous for great attention to 

manners. Gresset, the biographer of Ver-vert^ sung, a hundred years 

ago; 

*'Les petits soins, les attentions fines, 

Sont nes, dit-on, chez les Visitandines. " 



Romish Hagiology under Pope Pius IX. 121 

hood injuriously affects the proper development of 
the stem in womanhood. Every Catholic school in 
a Protestant country is a missionary, a propagandist 
instrument. The only safe course is to distrust the 
professions and the influence of those who offer to 
prove false to the principles and to the teachings of 
their own Church for the sake of attracting pupils 
from other religions. 

The Devotion of the Sacred Heart lost much of 
its position in Catholic Europe during the suppres- 
sion of the Jesuits ; but after its restoration the so- 
ciety applied itself vigorously and successfully to the 
re-establishment of this important branch of its sys- 
tem of operations. Nevertheless, in the distraction 
of religious opinion and feeling in recent times, and 
especially since the definition of the dogma of the 
Immaculate Conception, appeals through the Sacred 
Heart sometimes failed to produce suflBcient popular 
effect. Hence, though the governing classes in France 
long have been, and still are, ardent in this devotion, 
the stimulus of novelty was felt to be now and then 
needed to stir the torpid masses of the population to 
warmth and fervor, and the newly promulgated dog- 
ma was relied upon as likely to prove a potent aux- 
iliary to the Sacred Heart. The Abbe Nau observes 
that, in all critical conjunctures of the world, "the 

6 



122 Medimval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

Church has been inspired to establish, in honor of 
the Mother of God, new devotional practices for eflB- 
cacionsly soliciting help from her, because every new 
homage is answered by new favors. If it were oth- 
erwise, and if special blessings were not attached to 
different observances, the Queen of Heaven would 
not have varied her graces as she has done in her 
different apparitions.""^ The abbe leaves it to be 
inferred, not obscurely, that the La Salette revelation 
was got up to flatter the Virgin into fresh manifes- 
tations, and accordingly as a €Ouj[) de theatre which 
promised, as indeed it has yielded, brilliant results. 
But before noticing more in detail the apparition of 
La Salette and the closely similar visions of Lourdes, 
it may be well to dwell at some length on the early 
as well as the recent history of Mariolatry, or the 
worship of the Yirgin, which has received a new 
and powerful impulse under the reign of Pius IX. 

The weak vanity and puerile character of the pres- 
ent pope have made him an apt instrument for the 
purposes of the Jesuits, and his reign has done more 
to revive childish superstition and arrogant preten- 
sion in the Church of Rome than any which had pre- 
ceded it since the Reformation. The liberal tenden- 

* Nau, " L' Apparition de la SaleUe,"p. 157. 



Romish Hagiology under Pope Pius IX. 123 

cies, real or simulated, manifested by Pius IX. in the 
first years after his election, to a degree which de- 
luded many Catholics and even Protestants into a 
belief in the possibility of a reformed and reforming 
Rome, demanded an atonement, and this the Jesuits 
rigorously exacted, though, certainly, they have not 
found the pontiff a reluctant penitent. Fruits of this 
willing penance are the concordats with Spain, Aus- 
tria, and Ecuador, all tinged with the darkest spirit 
of obscurantism ; the Syllabus and Encyclica of 1864, 
and an almost uninterrupted succession of papal 
anathemas against every movement favorable to lib- 
erty and light; the canonization of a numerous body 
of new saints and the multiplication of recent mira- 
cles ; the increased activity of the priests in the prop- 
agation of fabulous legends ; the kidnaping of Jew- 
ish children to train them in the Eomish faith; the 
definition of the dogmas of the Immaculate Concep- 
tion and the personal infallibility of the pope; the 
elevation of St. A. de' Liguori to the dignity and au- 
thority of a doctor of the Church ; the consecration 
of the Church to the Devotion of the Sacred Heart ; 
the recognition of the miraculous apparitions of the 
Virgin of La Salette and of Lourdes; and the in- 
trigues which availed themselves of the superstition 
of the Empress of France, the dynastic aspirations of 



124 Medimval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

the emperor, and the professional ambition of the 
infiamam.oiiGhie who surrounded the imperial throne, 
to plunge France into a crusade against Germany. 

The definition of the doctrine of papal infallibil- 
ity is too recent to have yet allowed it to be judged 
by its fruits ; but the earlier dogma of the Immacu- 
late Conception, which was much less unacceptable 
to the episcopal body of the Romish Church, has 
evidently gone far to stamp a new character on the 
theology and the cultus of Catholicism, and its gen- 
eral acceptance has had much the same materializing 
tendency as the diffusion of the Devotion to the Sa- 
cred Heart, on which we have already commented. 

The historical origin of the devotion to the Virgin 
Mary as a religious exercise, and of its first virtual 
sanction by the Church, can not be traced. The 
most ancient paintings in the catacombs, which have 
been much relied upon as proofs that Mary was 
adored at Rome in the primitive ages of the Church, 
'v^t.>ju*>^* are now denied by competent authorities to be Chris- 

nl ^^^"^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^ 5 ^^^ ^^^y ^^^ ^'^^y Probably representa- 
tions of sacrifices to a heathen divinity. But, though 
there is no ground for the belief that any cultus was 
paid to the Yirgin in the first or second, perhaps not 
even in the third, century, there is no doubt that she 
was highly, if not idolatrously, reverenced in both 



\ 



Romish Hagiology tinder Pope Pius IX, 125 

the Eastern and the Western branch of the Church 
before the downfall of the Roman empire. The ad- 
vocates of a fusion between the Greek and the En- 
glish churches have endeavored to establish a distinc- 
tion between Orthodox Oriental and Romish Mariola- 
try, on the ground that the former ascribes no special 
sanctity to any particular picture or shrine of the Vir- 
gin, but considers all alike as merely memorial and 
incentive representations, and as all entitled to equal 
reverence. Theoretically, the highest theological 
standards of the Greek Church do deny the sacred- 
ness of the stock and the stone, the panel, the alabas- 
ter slab or the metallic plate, the colors, the gold-leaf 
and the pearls or gems, employed to depict or to 
adorn the representation ; but practically, and without 
objection or remonstrance from the ordinary clergy, 
the partialities of the worshipers of favorite pictures 
of the Virgin in Greece and in Russia are often as 
fervently expressed as in the Romish form of Cathol- 
icism. The Russian troops in the Crimea, in 1854, 
were accompanied by an ancient and highly vener- 
ated picture of the Theotokos, which was expressly 
referred to in general orders from the head-quartei-s 
of the army, as a sacred talisman which could not 
fail to insure victory to those who marched and 
fought under its protection. In the ascription of di- 



126 Mediaeval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

vine attributes to the Virgin, too, the Oriental falls 
little, if at all, short of the Western Church, for not 
only is she called the Meo-fV/c^ the mediatrix, in the 
service books, but prayers occur in them in which 
she is addressed directly as the giver of gifts and 
graces, without any reference to a higher power.^ 

The legendary literature of Mariolatry, from its 
most ancient manifestations to the definition of the 
dogma of the Immaculate Conception by Pius IX., 
is an ocean, of which it is quite impossible to give 
the reader even a general idea within the limits of 
the present paper, and we must content ourselves 
with a brief notice of some of its leading features 
gathered from De' Liguori and other authoritative 
sources. 



* Dr. Schaff, whose learning and candor will not be disputed, says 
of the worship of the Greek Church : ''The cultus is much like the 
Roman Catholic, with the celebration of the sacrifice of the mass as 
its centre, with an equal and even greater neglect of the sermon, 
and addressed more to the senses and imagination than to the in- 
tellect and heart. It is strongly Oriental, unintelligibly symbolical 

and mystical, and excessively formalistic The worship of saints, 

relics, flat images, and the cross is carried as far as, or even farther 
than, in the Roman Church ; but statues, bass-reliefs, and crucifixes 
are forbidden. The ruder the art, the more intense the superstition. 
In Russia, especially, the veneration for pictures is carried to the ut- 
most extent, and takes the place of the Protestant veneration for the 
Bible." — Johnson's Illustrated Cyclopcedia, vol. ii., article Greek 
Church, 



Romish Hagiology under Pope Pius IX. 127 

So far as pretended antiquity is concerned, the Let- 
ter of Messina takes a high rank among the Marian 
legends. As this epistle is not much known out of 
Sicily, we think it well to give it in full. The life, 
death, and resurrection of Christ having been made 
known at Messina by the preaching of St. Paul, a 
few years after the Crucifixion, the municipality of 
that town expressed to the Virgin their condolence 
with her in her affliction, by a special commission ac- 
credited by letters which, at the same time, embraced 
a profession of faith in the incarnation of the Divin- 
ity in the person of her son. This diplomatic monu- 
ment unfortunately appears to be lost ; but we have 
the Virgin's reply, the original of which is, or at 
least not long since was, still preserved in the cathe- 
dral of Messina. She wrote as follows : 

^' Maria Virgo Joachim filia^ Dei humillima Christi 
Jesu Crucifixi Mater ^ ex trihu Juda^ stirjpe David^ 
Messanensibus Salutem^ et Dei Patris Ornnijpo- 
tentis Benedictionem. 

"Vos omnes fide magna legatos ac nuncios per 
publicum documentum ad nos misisse constat, filium 
nostrum Dei Genitum Deum et Hominem esse fate- 
mini, et in Coelum post suam Eesurrectionem ascen- 
disse; Pauli Apostoli electi Prsedicatione mediante 



128 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

viam Yeritatis agnoscentes. Ob quod vos, et ipsam 
civitatem, benedicimus; cujus perpetuam Protectri- 
cem nos esse volumus. 

^^Ex Jerosolimis, an, 42 Filii nostri, 
Ind, 1, die Jov.^ 3 Junii,"* 

* In English, thus : " The Virgin Mary, daughter of Joachim, the 
most humble mother of God, Christ Jesus crucified, of the tribe of 
Judah and of the stock of David, to the people of Messina health and 
the blessing of God the Omnipotent Father. 

"It appears by a public instrument that you, recognizing the way 
of truth through the preaching of Paul, the elect apostle, have in your 
great faith sent to us embassadors and messengers ; you confess our 
Son, begotten of God, to be God and man, and that after his resur- 
rection he ascended to heaven ; for which cause we bless you and 
your city, and will be her perpetual protectors. 

*' Jeeusalem, in the 42cZ year of our Son^ Indiction firsts 
Thursday i June 3c?." 

The Jesuit Inchofer, we believe, first made known to the general 
public this letter of the Virgin in 1629, by an essay entitled "Epis- 
tolae B. Marias ad Messanenses Veritas." The extravagance and fol- 
ly of this story were too much for Inchofer's brethren, and he was 
charged by his superiors to moderate his transports. This he did in 
1632 in a new paper entitled " De Epistolse B. Virginis ad Messa- 
nenses Conjectatio." The original letter, which was preserved till In- 
chofer's time, is not now shown, but our copy is from a perfectly trust- 
worthy source. 

Inchofer, acting, no doubt, under the orders of his superiors, was one 
of the three accusers of Galileo in the remarkable proceedings of the 
papacy and the Inquisition against him for his astronomico-religious 
heresies. The shifts to which the apologists of Eome have been 
driven by the recent revival of the discussion respecting the treatment 
of Galileo and his theories would be amusing if the subject were not 
of too grave a nature to be a fit theme for ridicule. It is true that 
the proof of the actual infliction of physical torture on the great phi- 



Romish Hagiology under Pope Pius IX. 129 

The comparatively humble tone assumed by the 
Virgin in this epistle would indicate that this pious 
fraud belonged to an earlier age than the lives of St. 
Bernard and St. Thomas Aquinas ; but, not to men- 
tion other obvious critical objections, the use of the 
mediaeval mediante^ and the form of the date, would 
naturally lead profane skepticism to question the gen- 
uineness of this composition on purely philological 
grounds. It is, therefore, satisfactory to know that 
it has been recognized as authentic by a solemn de- 
cree of an infallible pope, a copy of which, engraved 
under a portrait of the Virgin, doubtless as genuine 
as her letter, is in the possession of the present writer. 

losopher is not conclusive. Perhaps the balance of probability is 
against it. But the evidence that Galileo's recantation was made un- 
der the menace of torture if he refused to abjure his error is so over- 
vv^helming that Rome herself no longer publicly denies it. We are 
bound to believe that the holy men who conducted the examination 
meant what they said, and, of course, that they would have applied 
the actual torture if the victim had proved obstinate. But suppose 
they did not intend to go to an extreme, which Galileo's weakness 
rendered superfluous, is not the highwayman who presents a pistol at 
my head and threatens to blow out my brains if I refuse to deliver 
him my watch, as great a villain as the robber who plunders me of it 
by main force ? Is it a less criminal abuse of power to extort a lie 
from a helpless prisoner by threats of violence to his person than to 
wring it from him by torture ? It is worth remembering that the de- 
cree condemning Galileo's theories as contrary to the teachings of the 
Church, though practically disregarded, has never been rescinded, and 
it is, therefore, still in force and binding on the conscience of the 
faithful. 

6^ 



130 Ifediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

The personality of Mary now enters into the Rom- 
ish idea of the Godhead, and a distributive share in 
the attributes and functions of the divinity has been 
assigned to her. St. Thomas Aquinas, the favorite 
theologian of the present pope, and St. Bernard are 
cited as maintaining this position. The Abbe Nau, 
whom we quote because his little essay is readily 
accessible to our readers, observes : " ' The kingdom 
of God,' a celebrated personage has said, ^consists 
in justice and in mercy.' Now, the angelic doctor 
teaches us that one half of this kingdom was given to 
Mary when she conceived and bore the Word made 
flesh, and God, reserving to himself the domain of 
justice, granted that of mercy to Mary, so that she 
became Queen of Mercy. Mercy, then, is the appan- 
age of the Most Holy Virgin ; it is, so to speak, her 
essence."— P. 145. The "Glorie di Maria" of St. 
Alphonso de' Liguori would have furnished the Abbe 
u.^rv^^ ^iNau abundance of equally conclusive testimony in 
1 ^/*^''' Support of the divinity of Mary, and he might have 
^ff-^' silenced all cavil at once by an appeal to the authori- 
ties collected in the three ponderous quartos of the 
Jesuit Passaglia's " Commentarius de Immaculato 
Virginis Conceptu," published in 1855 in defense 
of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Not 
many of our readers have access to this latter work, 



Homish Sagiology under Pope Pius IX. 131 

but De' Liguori's " Glories of Mary " may be found 
in most Catholic libraries in England and the United 
States, though perhaps only in editions expurgated 
for the Protestant market ; and, besides, a controver- 
sy respecting the teachings of De' Liguori between 
the Eev. Dr. Cox and a Komish priest, in which the 
latter won few laurels, has made this saint familiar- 
ly, if not advantageously, known to American Protest- 
ants. 

The " Glories of Mary " and the " Theologia Mo- 
ralis" of De' Liguori have recently acquired increased 
importance, as recognized expositions of the present 
theological and ethical doctrines of Eome, from the 
fact that on the 23d of March, 1871, upon the unan- 
imous recommendation of the Holy Congregation of 
Eites, Pope Pius IX., by solemn decree, referring in 
express terms to De' Liguori's " Theologia Moralis," 
as a treatise which had " dispelled the clouds of dark- 
ness diffused by unbelievers and Jansenists," and to 
his defense of the doctrine of the Immaculate Con- 
ception (which forms a part of the"Glorie di Ma- 
ria ") and the papal infallibility, compared him to a 
"light set upon a candlestick," and proclaimed him 
a doctor of the Universal Church. This saint is thus 
placed on the same level with Jerome, Augustine, 
and the fourteen other fathers accepted by Kome as 



132 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

authoritative teachers, and his works are virtually in- 
dorsed as inspired and infallible repositories of di- 
vine truth. These writings are constantly cited by 
Eomish casuists as of conclusive authority. Indeed, 
the Congregation of the Holy Penitentiary has for- 
mally decreed that the simple "fact of an opinion be- 
ing found in St. Liguori's works is ample warrant for 
its adoption, without any need to weigh his reasons."^ 

* Those desirous of understanding the ethical system of the ' ' Theo- 
logia Moralis," as now taught and practiced by Rome, will find a can- 
did, though too indulgent, exposition of it in an article entitled "The 
Doctrines of the Jesuits," in The Quarterly Review for January, 1875. 
Of course, the papal approval extends to De' Liguori's treatises on the 
confessional, some chapters of which are surpassed in indecency by 
nothing in the worst passages in Rabelais. It needs but a brief 
examination of this book to satisfy any candid inquirer that, of all the 
means of corruption ever invented by human ingenuity, the confes- 
sional is the most dangerous. When we speak of the cormpting in- 
fluence of the confessional, we refer alike to the confessor and to the 
penitent ; to the priest, bound by a vow of celibacy, and to the woman 
who is unfortunate enough to fall into the hands of a weak or unprin- 
cipled ecclesiastic. The danger to the latter is too obvious to need to 
be dwelt upon here ; but it requires a certain familiarity with the dis- 
ciplinary literature of Rome to be able to estimate the extent of the 
mischief to recluses whose imagination is often stimulated to an in- 
credible degree by the study and composition of works on confession. 
De' Liguori, in treating the grossest questions, constantly cites St. 
Thomas Aquinas, and even Gerson, as having devoted themselves to 
their elucidation. If such is the effect on the purest minds among the 
professed, what must it be on those of ordinary mold ? 

De' Liguori rendered a signal, and under the circumstances a mirac- 
ulous, service to the Church in the confession and absolution of the 
Holy Father, Pope Clement XIV., who had incurred the implacable 



Romish Hagiology under Pope JPius IX. 133 

Will Dr. JSTewman deny that the " Church " is respon- 
sible for De' Liguori's teachings ? 

We will supplement the Abbe Nau's too modest 
use of irrefragable authorities by a few flowers from 
De' Liguori's anthology of encomiums of the Virgin. 
The edition we refer to was published at Bassano in 
1852, with the sanction of the vicar-general of the 
ecclesiastical province of Yicenza. It conforms with 
other duly licensed and approved editions, and is, 
therefore, authoritative. In vol. i., chap, v., entitled 
" Necessity of the Intercession of Mary," St. Bernard 
is quoted as applying to Mary the term " aqueduct " 
or " channel," arguing that before her birth the cur- 
rent of grace was wholly wanting, because this 
channel did not exist, and adding that, as Holofer- 
nes broke down the aqueducts of Bethulia that he 
might the sooner reduce the city, so the devil tries to 

wrath of Heaven by the suppression of the Jesuits, and could be 
shriven by none but De' Liguori, upon whom, by special divine revela- 
tion, authority had been conferred for that purpose. The saintly man 
was then Bishop of Naples, and by the miraculous gift of hilocation, 
as it is somewhat oddly called, he was able to remain at Naples and 
continue the discharge of his episcopal functions while present at the 
same time in Rome. He was, indeed, engaged in ministering at the 
altar in the cathedral at Naples at the very same moment when he 
was pronouncing the absolution of the dying sinner in the Vatican. 
Cretineau-Joly vouches for this as a well-established historical fact ; 
but why the repentant pontiff did not spend his last moments in re- 
voking his wicked decree does not appear. 



134 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

destroy the devotion to Mary in man, because, this 
conduit of grace being interrupted, it is easy for him 
to gain over the soul. The same saint calls the Vir- 
gin the "Gate of Heaven," because no favor can 
come from heaven to earth except it pass through 
the hand of Mary, and none can enter heaven unless 
through Mary as through a gate. De' Liguori quotes 
with approbation the words of S. Eiccardo di S. 
Lorenzo, " Our salvation is in the hand of Mary ;" 
and of Cassianus, " The whole salvation of the world 
lies in the abundance of the favor of Mary ;" of S. 
Bernardino da Siena to Mary, "Thou art the dis- 
penser of all graces : our salvation is in thy hand ;" 
of S. Germano, "None, O most Holy Virgin, cometh 
to the knowledge of God but through thee;" of S. 
Eiccardo di S. Lorenzo, " Whereas it is said of other 
saints that they are with God, of Mary alone can it 
be aflSrmed that not only is she subject to the will of 
God, but that God is subject to her will ;" of S. Da- 
miano to the Virgin, " To thee is given all power in 
heaven and on earth; thou dost approach the altar 
of reconciliation not asking, but commanding," non 
rogans sed iinjperans; "thou art the mistress, not the 
handmaid ;" of S. Bernardino da Siena, "All things, 
even God himself, are subservient to the empire of 
the Virgin," Lnperio Virginis omnia famulanfur^ 



JRomish Sagiology under Pope Pius IX. 135 

etiam Dens. Quotations of this sort from De' Li- 
guori and other Romish theologians might be multi- 
plied ad infinitum^ and such expressions really form 
the staple of their writings on this subject. 

The essential relations of Mary to the Divinity are 
perhaps more clearly set forth in De' Liguori's ser- 
mons, forming vol. ii. of "The Glories of Marj^" 
Thus, Sermon IV. quotes approvingly from Suarez, 
" The dignity of the Mother is of a higher order, for 
it belongs, in a certain way, to the order of hypostat- 
ic union ;" from St. Dionysius, " The relation of the 
Virgin to God is a supreme union with an infinite 
person, and she could not be more infinitely united 
to God except by becoming God ;" from St. Bernar- 
dino, " In order that the Virgin might conceive and 
bear God, it was necessary that she should be raised 
to a certain equality with God, quamdam cequalitatem 
Divinam /" from St. Pier Damiano, " God is in the 
creature," Dominus creaturce inest^ " namely, in the 
Virgin Mary, by identity^ for he is one with her ;" 
and again, " God dwelleth in the Virgin, with whom 
he hath the identity of one nature f from St. Bona- 
ventura, " By thy governance. Most Holy Virgin, en- 
dureth the w^orld which thou, with God, didst found 
from the beginning ;" and De' Liguori adds, " Thus 
the Church applies to Mary the passage in the eighth 



136 Mediaeval and Modern Saints and Miy^acles. 

chapter of Proverbs as given in the Vulgate, ' Cum 
eo eram cuncta componens.' ""^ 

These citations may easily be paralleled by hun- 
dreds not less extravagant ; and, if the opinions of 
Eomish theologians are authoritative. Pope Pius IX. 
was abundantly warranted in proclaiming the dogma 
of the Immaculate Conception, which, in the Pomish 
sense, implies of itself a divinity of essence ; for, by 
the same theology, sin is inherent in all lower or 
finite natures. In reference to this point, our first 
quotation from St. Bernard, through De' Liguori, is 
important, because, in common with much other evi- 
dence, it shows that Rome does not hold the Divinity 
of Mary to be derivative, and belonging to her mere- 
ly as the instrumental means of the Incarnation ; for 
it represents her as becoming the dispenser of all 
graces, not from the birth of the Son, but from her 
own. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception, 
therefore, proclaimed no novelty, but it determined 

* This passage occurs in Prov. viii., 30, and refers to the divine 
wisdom of the Creator, so that, according to De' Liguori, the Virgin 
Mary in her earthly life was an incarnation of what had previously 
existed only as a spiritual essence, as the Sapientia Divina, the in- 
spiring agent in the creative manifestations of God. Verses 29, 30 : 
**When he appointed the foundations of the earth; then I was hy 
him as one brought up with him,^^ The English authorized transla- 
tion, as will be seen, differs from the Vulgate rendering of the Hebrew 
text. 



Momish Hagiology under Pope Pius IX. 137 

by an infallible judgment what had been before a 
disputable question, and it has, in effect, substituted 
s/^\ ^ the Mother for the Son in the Eomish theological 
Sft^^" I idea of the Divinity. It represents Christ as having 
^\'^ abdicated the functions and attributes ascribed to 
%^J^^. him by the New Testament, and become an altogeth- 
^*^^ er superfluous personage. The domain of grace is 
divided between Mary in heaven and the pope on 
earth; and Rome practically teaches that to these 
dignities alone supreme adoration is due. We have 
'^'^ ' space for but a single illustration of this proposition. 
In <he winter of 1873-74 there was publicly exposed 
for sale in Home, at a shop much frequented by de- 
vout Catholics, where crosses, crucifixes, rosaries, im- 
ages, religious manuals, medals, pictures, and other 
material appliances of Romish worship alone are re- 
tailed, a photograph, from a carefully executed draw- 
ing or lithograph, of the following description :^ At 
the top of the plate is represented the Eternal Father 
in the attitude of bestowing benediction ; at his right 
hand, on a lower plane, the Yirgin Mary ; at his left, 
lower still, St. Peter ; beneath the Father, the Holy 
Spirit emitting rays of light upon the central figure, 
which is Pius IX., crowned with the tiara and seated 

* Gladstone has described this production ; but we write with the 
photograph before us. 



138 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

on the pontifical throne, with Europe, Asia, Africa, 
and America in adoration at his feet. Christ does 
not appear in the picture at all. The character of 
the establishment where this photograph is kept for 
sale leaves no doubt that it is approved by the eccle- 
siastical authorities of Rome. 

Although the special domain of Mary is mercy, 
she has avenging terrors in store for those who pro- 
fane her worship. Thus we learn from Ossequio F., 
in the second volume of " The Glories of Mary," that 
in the year 1610 the devotees at the sanctuary of the 
Yirgin at Montevergine had dishonored the vigil of 
Pentecost by dancing, drinking, and worse immorali- 
ties, as, in fact, is usual on such occasions. To pun- 
ish the transgressors, the Virgin, as was testified by 
five eye-witnesses, appeared with a blazing torch in 
each hand, and set fire to the hospice in which a 
great number were assembled. The building, which 
was of wood, was totally consumed, and no fewer than 
fifteen hundred persons perished in the flames.*^ De' 



* This narrative will recall to many of our readers the terrible ca- 
tastrophe at the Cathedral of Santiago, in Chili, a few years ago. On 
a great religious festival, the priests had opened a post-office in the 
church for coiTespondence with the Virgin. Devotees dropped their 
petitions to Mary in a letter-box, accompanied by a suitable oblation, 
and received prompt answers through the attending clergy. At the 
moment when the receipt and delivery of letters was most active and 



Romish Hagiology under Pope Pius IX, 139 

Liguori takes occasion from this fact— and it is worth 
attention as^ perhaps, the only passage in his works 
which shows a ghmmering of common sense — to ad- 
vise the worshipers of the Virgin not to visit her 
sanctuaries on high festivals, which attract a great 
concourse of devotees. 

According to the general tenor of the Marian 
legends, the indignation of the Virgin is excited and 
her favor conciliated, not by the sinfulness or the 
piety of the votary, but by neglecting or profaning 
her personal worship on the one hand, or sedulously 
cultivating it on the other. We are constantly told 
that she is incensed if observances in her honor are 
slighted, and gratified and propitiated when they are 
assiduously performed. We have given an example 
of her resentment which may sufiice as a specimen. 
The following instances of the favor of the Virgin 
we take from the "Aggiunta di Vari Esempi," in the 
second volume of De' Liguori's " Glorie di Maria :" 

A notorious robber in the environs of Trent, being 



the cathedral was crowded with worshipers, some of the decorations 
of the church took fire, the flames were communicated to the dresses 
of the ladies and other combustible objects, and twenty-five hundred 
men, women, and children were burned alive or trampled to death by 
the crowd in frantic efforts to escape. The priests saved themselves 
in the sacristy or other secure retreats, and few, if any, of them were 
lost. 



140 Medioeval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

urged by a monk to abandon his mode of life, replied 
that it was "too late to mend." "Well," said the 
monk, " then fast every Saturday in honor of Mary, 
and on that day do violence to none." The robber 
accepted the advice and went on his old course of 
rapine and murder, fasting and abstaining from crime 
only on Saturday, on which day, to be the safer from 
temptation, he made it a point to go unarmed. He 
was finally taken on a Saturday, condemned, behead- 
ed, and thrown into a ditch. The Mother of God 
soon appeared, accompanied by four other celestial 
virgins, who took up the body, wrapped it in a rich 
cloth embroidered with gold, carried it to the gate 
of the city, and delivered it to the guard. The ma- 
donna ordered the guard to charge the bishop, in her 
name, to give honorable burial to the body, " because 
he was her faithful servant." Upon this, the whole 
population of that district adopted the practice of 
fasting on Saturdays. — Example 10. 

In Normandy, when a robber was beheaded by 
" enemies " — of course, by criminal justice — his head, 
which was thrown into a ravine, was heard to say, 
" Mary, give me confession !" A priest confessed 
the head, and inquired what devotion its possessor 
had followed. It answered that his only religious 
observance had been to fast one day in the week in 



Romish Hagiology under Pope Pius IX. 141 

honor of the Yirgin, and that the Madonna had re- 
leased him from eternal punishment upon confession. 

A very wicked man in Spain, " wholly given over 
to the devil/' never confessed, but said an "Ave Ma- 
ria " every day. At his death the Virgin appeared 
to him, and looked compassionately upon him; he 
forthwith confessed, and died in peace. 

We need not dilate upon the moral effect which 
the circulation of such tales, on the high authority of 
St. Alfonso De' Liguori, must inevitably have upon 
a superstitious and depraved population.^ Cheap 

* Most of the Sicilian and Calabrian assassins and robbers find an 
occasional *'Ave Maria" sufficiently tranquilizing to the conscience 
to enable them to sleep the sleep of the just, without troubling them- 
selves about amends or restitution ; but the benevolence of the " good 
old pope," Pius IX., has provided a remedy for those queasy spirits 
who are still disturbed by compunctious visitings, in the famous 
Bolla di Composizione issued by him, in 1866, for the special sol- 
ace and comfort of timid and overscrupulous thieves, brigands, and 
other villains who lack a lively saving faith in the Virgin. This ex- 
cellent arrangement not only secures to the sinner peace here and 
hereafter, upon very easy terms, but is the source of a considerable 
revenue to the Church. The Bolla di Composizione is not new in prin- 
ciple or in practice, for it has long been usual with the priesthood to 
pardon and absolve unlawful possessors of other men's goods upon a 
fair division of the spoil between the Church and the thief. But, 
like the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, it formulated, sanc- 
tioned, and regulated what was generally but loosely and unequally 
accepted and practiced before. The object of the bull is stated to be 
to " temper the severity of a just satisfaction," and it provides that a 
thief, robber, or other holder of ill-gotten gains shall remain free and 
pardoned, in for o conscientim, upon devoting to pious uses about three 



142 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

editions of these books are found everywhere in Italy, 
and are constantly studied by the worst classes of the 
people who are able to read. It is a remarkable and 
painful fact that the robbers and assassins of Italy 
are not from the most ignorant or the poorest portion 
of the population. The majority belong to w^hat 
would be called the lower stratum of the middle 
classes in other countries, and they, or at least the 
leaders of their bands, are almost always able to read 
and write. Books of devotion like " The Glories of 
Mary," and, for those of higher pretensions, the 
" Theologia Moralis " of De' Liguori, are their man- 
uals of ethics ; and the robbers and murderers of the 
old Neapolitan and Pontifical territory are generally 
among the strictest observers of outward religious 
ordinances, and are especially fervent worshipers of 
the Virgin. Her images, medals, and devotional for- 
mulas are found upon the person of every brigand 

per cent, of his plunder ; and " may keep and possess the remainder 
in good faith, as his own property justly earned and acquired ;" pro- 
vided^ always, that the person entitled to restitution be_ unknown to 
I li V the wrong-doer. Of course, little ingenuity is required to ignore the 

\ it ' <? I P^^'son entitled to restitution in any supposable case, because, though 
V^^^^g^ f the immediate loser may be known, the thief can never be altogether 
sure that such loser was, inforo consciendce, the person really entitled 
to the property ; for the loser himself may have come unlawfully into 
possession of it. The bull extends not only to theft and robbery, but 
to gambling, cheating, and every possible mode of illegal plunder. 



Eomish Hagiology under Pope Pius IX. 143 

who falls into the hand of justice, and to her they 
confidently look for aid and protection in the per- 
petration of the frightful atrocities of which they 
are guilty.*^ 

The cultus of Mary, already widely diffused, is 
growing and spreading with a rapidity which might 
seem dangerous to the Devotion of the Sacred Heart ; 
but the latter, as emphatically French in origin and 
character, is the special favorite of the Government 
and the higher classes in France, and is therefore sus- 
tained by very powerful influences. The Jesuits, who 
administer (and, to use an expressive Gallicism, ex- 
ploitent) both these forms of creature-worship, find 
it convenient to throw their great weight into one 
scale or the other, as circumstances from time to time 
render expedient. 

As Spain was the birthplace of the founder of the 

order of Jesuits, the great apostle of Mariolatry, so 

that country and the sister state of Portugal have 
long been remarkable for the fervor of their devo- 
tion to the Virgin, and for the abundance of their 
contributions to her biography and the history of her 
miracles. Some of these narratives relate to her 
earthly life, and some to the spiritual graces im- 

* See Hilton, *' Brigandage in Italy," vol. ii., ch. ii. 



144 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

parted by her; but the great majority of the Spanish 
and Portuguese Marian legends are accounts of ma- 
terial miracles performed by her through the minis- 
try of sacred images, to, or at least before, which the 
prayers of the votaries are addressed. The interven- 
tion and concurrence of the images themselves seem 
to be considered not less essential than the action of 
the Virgin in the performance of the miracle ; and 
in many, if not most, cases the actual presence of the 
pictures or statues at the place of supplication and 
of operation is indispensable, for they seldom ap- 
pear to possess the power of acting efficiently at a 
distance.^ The image of Our Lady of the Eeme- 
dies, at Alfano, in Portugal, much invoked by fisher- 
men, is almost constantly absent from her shrine in 
the Church, being engaged at sea in lending a hand 
to navigators in peril, to the scene of whose danger 

* This fact serves to explain the superior promptness of the relief 
afforded by the images of the Virgin ; for, as Saint Anselm informs 
us, " Velocior nonnunquara salus, memorato nomine Marias quam in- 
vocato nomine Jesu " — Healing is often more speedy, upon appealing 
to the name of Mary, than upon invoking the name of Jesus. The 
eloquent Father Vierra thinks Anselm did not go far enough in using 
*' nonnunquam," often, and regrets that he had not said, rather, *' sem- 
per," or " quasi semper," always, or almost always. — Sermoes, vol. i., 
p. 278. Time is an element in the transmission of all material ener- 
gy, and hence a drowning man can be plucked from the water more 
speedily by a present hand than by a force, however potent, operating 
from afar. 



Romish Hagiology under Pope Pius IX. 145 

she transports herself in time of need. The image 
not unfrequently returns well drenched, a fact which, 
as her biographer judiciously observes, proves that 
she must have plunged into the water to rescue the 
sufferers. The " Santuario Mariano/' from the first 
volume of which we derive these facts, contains, in 
its ten quartos, the description and history of no few- 
er than two thousand Imagens Miraculosas of Our 
Lady existing in Portugal and its foreign dependen- 
cies, and the Marian population of Spain is propor- 
tionally numerous. This is a matter of philosophical 
interest, because it helps to explain the remarkable 
moral and material progress of the Spanish people 
after the sixteenth century, when they surrendered 
their entir^^ovemment into the hands of the Jesu- 
its, who, with the images, are well known to be the 
earthly representatives and vicars of the Virgin. 

We do not know the original date of the two mi- 
raculous documents we next describe. Judging from 
internal evidence, we should presume them to be of 
quite modern fabrication, and of Jesuit paternity. 
They seem to be special favorites of Pius IX., and 
have at least received new currency from his indorse- 
ment. They may, therefore, be properly introduced 
in this part of our essay. The first lays claim to 
some antiquity, having been found, it is said, in the 

7 



146 Jlediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and afterward pre- 
served in a silver casket by the Emperor Charles Y. 
and " His Holiness." The story is that Christ ap- 
peared to St. Elizabeth, St. Matilda, and St. Bridget, 
and delivered to them a written account of the de- 
tails of his passion, stating the number of soldiers 
who attended the Crucifixion ; of kicks, blows, and 
w^ounds inflicted upon the Saviour by them; of 
punctures from the crown of thorns; and of drops 
of blood shed and sighs breathed by the sufferer. 
The fractures of the skull, it is said, were one hun- 
dred in number, and the drops of blood thirty-eight 
thousand four hundred and thirty. This document, 
as it is now printed, is accompanied with certain 
prayers, and the concession of one hundred days of 
indulgence to every one who shall keep in his house 
a copy of it, and recite the prayers attached. The 
indulgence was granted in 1839 by the then Arch- 
bishop of Imola, who has since become pope under 
the title of Pius IX. 

The other miraculous communication is a letter 
from the Saviour, printed in characters of gold, and 
sent, through her guardian angel, to a girl of St. 
Marcel, in France. It was published at Eome " by 
permission of His Holiness, Pius IX." It resembles 
the first, of which it appears to be a French amplifi- 



Moynish Hagiology under Pope Pius IX. 147 

cation, the numbers having been multiplied in some 
such proportion as the dignity of a pope bears to that 
of an arclibishop ; for the drops of blood are reck- 
oned at three millions and eight hundred. Those 
who deny the authenticity of this impudent forgery 
are threatened with the wrath of Christ; while to 
all who maintain its genuineness, and carry it about 
with them, plenary indulgence, the remission of sins, 
and the special aid of the Virgin in the hour of 
death are promised. These disgusting and profane 
fables are printed by hundreds of thousands, and ex- 
posed for sale, together with vulgar and often im- 
moral ballads, at half the street -corners and book- 
stalls in Florence, Kome, and other Italian towns.^ 

In Italy, statues and pictures of the Virgin are so 
xmiversally a most prominent feature in the appara- 
tus of churches, and especially of rural chapels, that 
in some provinces "imagine^^ is the usual popular 
designation of these latter edifices. An American 
gentleman not long since heard a political agitator, 
in addressing a peasant audience in Tuscany, de- 
nounce the existing Government of the kingdom be- 
cause it had not set up images of the Virgin in the 
railway stations, as he said would have been done if 
the Italian people were " free." 

* See Appendix XL 



148 Mediceval and Modern Samts and Miracles. 

We can afford space to notice only a couple of 
Italian Madonnas, each typical of a class. The 
church of Santa Maria, at the Porta del Popolo at 
Home, possesses a portrait of the Virgin and the in- 
fant Christ by St. Luke, which is believed to be the 
only one painted by that, or indeed by any, artist 
from the life, all the other numerous works of the 
sort being repetitions or imitations of this. The his- 
tory of this picture and of the church built to con- 
tain it is given at length by the Eev. Ambrogio Lan- 
ducci in a small quarto, printed at Eome in 1646, un- 
der the title given in our list, and is a very fair spec- 
imen of this department of religious literature. Few 
churches are so rich in relics as Santa Maria del Po- 
polo, many of which — such, for example, as a certain 
portion of the person of Christ — ought to be unique ; 
but the value of several of the relics is somewhat 
diminished by the fact that numerous equally well- 
authenticated, and in an equal degree miraculously 
gifted, duplicates of them exist elsewhere. The in- 
dulgences bestowed upon this church by a long suc- 
cession of pontiffs are such that every sin finds here 
its easy atonement, and the worst of criminals might 
secure his salvation, and that of all his accomplices, 
by the industry of a single day devoted to the prayers 
and genuflections prescribed by the ordinances. Per- 



Homish nagiology under Pope Pius IX. 149 

haps the most noticeable feature of this book is the 
catalogue of titles and qualifications that belong to 
the Virgin. They are three hundred and five in num- 
ber, and include, of course, the common attributes, 
Help and Hope of Christians, Arbitress of the Di- 
vine Mercy, Eight Arm of the Eternal Emperor, Com- 
plement of the Most Holy Trinity, Co-operatrix in 
Human Redemption, Giantess of Paradise, Most Se- 
rene Empress of the Universe, Mediatrix, Queen, 
First-born of the Creatures of the Eternal Father, 
Shrine of the Holy Spirit, Spouse of the Eternal, 
Temple, Complement and Conclave of the True and 
One Trinity, True Mediatrix between God and Man, 
Living Image of God, Sweetest Sugar of Salvation, 
etc., etc. But there is one — True and Sacred Lam- 
prey of the Sea — which we do not remember to have 
seen elsewhere. We are not sure that we understand 
this appellation, but we suppose it to mean that, as 
the lamprey w^as the chief delicacy of Eoman gas- 
tronomy, so Mary is supremely adorable among creat- 
ures. 

The pictures of the Virgin asserted to be repeti- 
tions or ancient copies of the portrait by St. Luke are 
numerous, but this evangelist was a statuary as well 
as a painter. He is not, we believe, thought to have 
wrought in marble, but there are in Italy several mir-. 



150 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

acle-working statues of the Madonna in wood, which 
are supposed to be productions of his skill. The Ma- 
donna of Oropa, in Piedmont, is perhaps the most 
celebrated of these. It is of very coarse workman- 
ship and nearly black from age, or perhaps quality 
of material, and there is reasonable proof that it is 
of very considerable antiquity, though there is noth- 
ing but tradition to connect it with St. Luke. 

A few years ago, the Yirgin of Rimini, which rep- 
resents a numerous class, the automatic or pantomim- 
ic Madonnas, was in high repute; but the profane 
hands of the Piedmontese civil and military author- 
ities have detected and exposed the springs, cords, 
pulleys, and other contrivances by which so many sa- 
cred pictures and statues were made to roll the eyes, 
to shed tears, and make puppet-like gestures, that they 
have fallen rather into discredit. The Yirgin of Ei- 
mini is a picture of some merit, given by the family 
of the artist to a church at Eimini in 1810. It man- 
ifested no signs of life until 1850, when it was ob- 
served by three ladies to roll its eyes upward until 
the pupil disappeared beneath the upper eyelid, noth- 
ing but the white remaining visible. This graceful 
and expressive movement was repeated during the 
following days, and after some weeks' practice the 
image acquired the valuable additional accomplish- 



JRomish Sagiology under Pope Pius 71Z*. 151 

ments of turning the eye-balls laterally, and even of 
rolling them in different directions at the same time. 
The prodigy excited great attention, the bishop took 
the matter in hand, and it was swiftly laid before the 
pope himself, by whose orders an ecclesiastical com- 
mission was organized to inquire into the genuine- 
ness of the miracle. The testimony of one hundred 
witnesses was taken and recorded. The depositions 
filled several hundred folios of paper, and an abridg- 
ment of them was printed, which may still be had 
cheap at the church of Eimini, plain copies being 
sold, even to heretics and scoffers, at only two francs ; 
to those specially blessed by His Holiness Pius IX., 
one franc extra. The pope authorized the corona- 
tion of the image in his name, and bestowed upon 
all who should visit the Church on the day of the 
coronation, or within fifteen days afterward, and per- 
form the required services, plenary indulgence and 
remission of all sins, transferable, jper modum suf- 
fragii^ to any of their friends in purgatory. 



152 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 



lY. 

MARIOLATKY IN FKANCE. — CONCLUSION. 

Feance, as is well known, always has been, and still 
is, " the leader in the march of modern civilization 
and progress."^ Victor Hugo declared that, even 
after the catastrophe of 1870, France looked down 
upon the rest of the world as a giant looks down upon 
pigmies. But she is not less distinguished for her 
spiritual graces than for her military and political 
greatness. Her very revolutions are miraculous in 
their benignity. Her sovereign is the Eldest Son of 
the Church, the Caliph of the Faithful ; she is the 
official champion and protectress of Catholicism all 
over the world. All Catholics are, in a religious 
sense. Frenchmen ; just as, according to sound Mo- 
hammedan divinity, all men are born Moslems, though 
too often sadly corrupted by evil communications. 
Hence, as France owes patronage and protection to 
Eomanism, so all Catholics owe fealty to France, and 

* See any French book, passim. 



Mariolatry in France. 153 

this is the real foundation of the claim of that power 
to suzerainty over Italy.^ It is therefore not sur- 
prising that the Virgin should have had ^^ the good 
taste "f to make the territory of that chosen land the 
Komish Palestine, the theatre of recent apparitions 
and revelations surpassing in splendor and impor- 
tance all former manifestations of her glory and of 
her partiality for Frenchmen. Such apparitions have 
been very frequent since the return of the Bourbons ; 
but professional jealousies among the clergy have 
prevented the success of many of the devotions orig- 
inated by them. Two, however, have spread a celes- 
tial lustre over the closing years of the reign of Louis 
Philippe and the empire under Napoleon III., to 



* For a striking picture of the effects of the domestic and foreign 
politico-religious policy of the French Government, see '*La France," 
the last and ablest work of the lamented Count Agenor de Gasparin. 
Much interesting information on the same subject may be found in 
Taxile Delord, *'Histoire du Second Empire." See, particularly, the 
history of the Syllabus of 1864 in volume iv., and of the definition of 
the dogma of papal infallibility in volume v. In the latter volume is 
a notice of the organization of a '' new devotion" in France, the mem- 
bers of which took a '' formal pledge to observe and profess the doc- 
trine of the infallibility of the pope even to blood," wsgwe ad effusio- 
nem sanguinis. They bound themselves to propagate this doctrine 
by all the means conferred by '* authority and affection," to circulate 
books defending it, and to suppress those attacking it. The proceed- 
ings of the association were secret. The pope wrote letters of con- 
gratulation to persons of position who joined it. — Page 605. 

t See speech of Bishop Segur, quoted post. 



154 Medimval and Modern Saints and Mi7*acles. 

which latter prince, more than to any other man, the 
recovery of the Eomish Church from the decadence 
with which it was threatened at the first organization 
of the republic is to be ascribed. The first of these 
was the apparition of the Virgin, in 1846, to an igno- 
rant and stupid peasant boy and girl,"^ aged respect- 
ively eleven and fifteen, near La Salette, in the De- 
partment of Isere. The scene of the apparition was 
a desert plateau, frequented only by shepherds, at the 
height of six thousand feet above the sea, and hence 
called by the devotees the " new Sinai." A dazzling 
cloud of light first appeared to the children, which 
soon spread and displayed a beautiful woman crowned 
with a halo of glory, but with a sad expression of 
countenance. She called the children to approach, 
saying she had great news to communicate to them. 
She then began to declaim against the sinfulness of 
the peasantry in neglecting the worship of the Vir- 
gin on Sundays, and in taking the name of her Son 
in vain in their profane swearing ; for it appears that 
the wagoners of the Is^re swore as terribly as did 
" the British army in Flanders." She declared, with 
many tears, that if her people did not submit, she 

* The dullness of the girl, Melanie, was such that, notwithstanding 
the illumination of her spirit by the Virgin, she was not intelligent 
enough to receive the communion till two years later. 



Mariolatry in France. 155 

would let go the arm of her Son, which was growing 
so heavy she could no longer hold it. " I have al- 
lowed you/' said she, " six days for labor, and re- 
served the seventh for myself, but you will not give 
it to me. Your wagoners can not even swear with- 
out appealing to the name of my Son, and it is these 
two things which make his arm so heavy." She then 
proceeded to explain that she had spoiled their potato 
crop the year before, by way of admonition, but that 
this chastisement had produced no effect. " On the 
contrary," continued she, "when you cursed and 
swore about the rot in your potatoes, you always 
brought in the name of my Son. Well, they shall 
rot again, and all spoil before Christmas." Thus far 
the Yirgin spoke in French, and the children, who 
knew only the jargon of their province, did not un- 
derstand her. Perceiving this, the Yirgin said, "Ah, 
my children, you do not understand French," and 
then repeated her discourse in their patois, not from 
the beginning, but only from the threat about the 
potatoes. How Father Berthier learned the preced- 
ing part of her revelation does not clearly appear, 
but we have not the least doubt that his report of it 
is as accurate as of the remainder. The Yirgin then 
went on in the local patois, threatening the failure 
of the crops of wheat, of the nuts, and the grapes, a 



156 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

pestilence among the children under seven years of 
age, and a great famine. She now relapsed into 
French, which, as there is good reason to think, is her 
habitual language. Addressing herself to the boy, 
in a tone inaudible to the girl, she communicated to 
him a secret, and then a longer secret to the girl, also 
in French, and in a voice not heard by the boy. The 
dialogue went on in the patois, and terminated by a 
charge to the children, in French, to make all this 
known " to all my people."^ The Virgin then slow- 
ly retired, rose to the height of a metre and a half 
above the ground, remained suspended a moment, 
then gradually disappeared, the head vanishing first. 
Father Berthier is evidently ashamed of the silli- 
ness of this story, but he stoutly maintains the genu- 
ineness of the apparition, and declares that the sim- 
plicity of the Virgin's discourse could scandalize 
none except such as have never read the Holy Script- 
ures, We fear that most of Father Berthier's read- 
ers are precisely in this case ; for to the faithful the 
reading of the Scriptures without special permission, 
not always easy to obtain, is tabooed. Still we be- 
lieve that his narrative is well suited to the intellect 



* We regret to say that Father Berthier has not favored us with a 
bilingual copy of the dialogue, which would have been an interesting 
study in comparative philology. 



Mariolatry in France. 157 

of his public. He finds a suflicient material proof 
of its authenticity in the fact of an increase of flow 
in a small spring, at the scene of the apparition, which 
formerly often dried up in summer, but has now be- 
come perennial, and is possessed of miraculous heal- 
ing virtues. 

His Holiness Pope Pius IX. desired to know the 
secrets confided by the Virgin to the boy and girl, 
and which they had religiously kept for five years. 
Two ecclesiastics of the diocese of Grenoble w^ere 
commissioned to obtain the important information, 
which, though with much difficulty, they succeeded 
in extracting from the children, by demanding it in 
the name of the pope. Having in the mean time 
learned to read and write, each child wrote down and 
sealed its secret, and the Bishop of Grenoble dele- 
gated a solemn embassy, consisting of two of his cler- 
gy, to carry these " mysterious dispatches " to Home. 
They were duly delivered to His Holiness, who did 
not seem to attach great importance to the boy's rev- 
elation, but w^as much saddened by that of the girl, 
which, he said, threatened great woes to France, Italy, 
and the rest of Europe. 

The "new Sinai" acquired almost at once an im- 
mense celebrity throughout France. There was a 
vast affluence of pilgrims, each doubtless contribu- 



158 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

ting his mite ; and by this means, by special collec- 
tions, and by pious gifts and legacies, money was 
soon raised to build a magnificent church large 
enough to contain twenty -five hundred worshipers, 
two convents, a large hospice, and a great number of 
subsidiary structures, monuments, and crosses; and 
hundreds of thousands of devotees were enrolled in 
associations formed to promote the worship of the 
Virgin of La Salette. In 1872, a national pilgrim- 
age was organized, as Father Berthier says, " under 
tlie protection of Ste. Philomena, the thaumaturgist 
of the nineteenth century," to do homage to that 
saint and to the Virgin of La Salette, "with the 
double object of obtaining from heaven the salvation 
of France and the deliverance of the Holy Father." 
This pilgrimage, in its successive divisions, is said to 
have numbered two hundred thousand votaries. 

The devotees of the Sacre Coeur, who profess to 
embrace in their organizations in France and in for- 
eign countries not fewer than twelve millions of mem- 
bers, concurred in this demonstration, and we strong- 
ly suspect that the "national hymn" written for the 
occasion, and chanted by the pilgrims with wild en- 
thusiasm, derived its lofty poetical inspiration, through 
a regular medium^ from Marguerite Marie Alacoque ; 
though one may conjecture, with perhaps equal prob- 



Mariolatry in France. 



159 



ability, that it is the joint production of Maximin 
and Melanie, the boy and girl of La Salette. In fer- 
vid emotion and lyric elevation it compares very well 
with Yictor Hugo's "Jfoics Vavons eu^ voire Ehin 
AllemandP^ and with the best of the French Tyr- 
taean war-songs of the late Franco-German contest. 
It is not strange, therefore, that the concluding stan- 
za and the burden should have been sung by such a 
choir in a frenzy of religious patriotism. We regret 
that Father Berthier does not give the music, but it 
is safe to presume that it was worthy of the words : 



Mere d'amour, Vierge de la Sa- 
lette, 
Voyez-nous tous pleurer a vos 
genoux. 
Calmez I'orage, ecartez la tem- 
pete, 
Priez, Piiez pour le Pape et 
pour nous ! 

Refrain. 
Dieu de clemence, 

Dieu protecteur, 
Sauvez, sauvez la France, 

Au nom du Sacre Coeur ! 



Mother of love, Virgin of Sa- 
lette ! 
Low at thy knees behold! we 
weeping fall. 
Calm thou the tempest, bid the 
storm retreat, 
Pray, pray thou for the pope 
and for us all ! 

Refrain. 
God our defense. 

Thou mercy art ! 
Oh save, oh save our France, 

In the name of the Sacred Heart ! 



The most important feature of the national pil- 
grimage of 1872 is its evident political character and 
purpose. It is one of the many evidences of the de- 
liberate intention of the clerical party of France to 
Btir up the people to a new jehad^ a new crusade 



160 Mediceval and 3Iodern Saints and Miracles, 

against liberty and liglit, whose first triumph is to be 
the overthrow of the kingdom of Italy and the res- 
toration of the temporal power of the papacy. Dur- 
ing the pilgrimage the mountains everywhere re- 
echoed the cry of " Long Live Pius IX. !" and the 
sermon delivered by the Bishop of Grenoble on the 
occasion is a modern edition of the harangues of Pe- 
ter the Hermit. The bishop even indicates the plan 
and period of the campaign, in detailing a conversa- 
tion at Eome between the pope and a prelate who 
had written a paper on the next conclave. "My 
friend/' said the pope, " your conclave may perhaps 
not be so very near. So long as I had not outlived 
the years of Peter, I could not resist a certain fear 
{frayeiir)\ but, since the fatal crisis is passed, my 
heart is comforted, and I feel that my arm has still 
strength enough to open the doors of my basilicas at 
the jubilee of 1875." "Yes, my dear brethren," con- 
tinued the bishop, " the beloved pontiff will live to 
share the triumph of the Church, after having wit- 
nessed her battles. He will see, too, the salvation of 
France, for the destiny of the daughter is inseparable 
from that of the mother." The meaning of all this 
is clear enough ; but tlie expectations of the bishop 
and the pope have not been fulfilled, and the period 
of their accomplishment must be placed in the same 



Mariolatry in France. 161 

category as the Kestoration of the Jews and the Sec- 
ond Advent. 

The splendid success of La Salette soon led to 
new attempts to get np analogous manifestations 
elsew^herCj^ but, as we have hinted, they w^ere often 
smothered by .the local jealousies of the clergy. A 
late movement in favor of the Perpetual Eosary of 
Mary was formidable enough to threaten not only 
La Salette and Lourdes, but even the Sacre Coeur, 
and it was defeated only by a solemn resolution of 
the General Cono:ress of the French Catholic Com- 
mittees at Paris. At this congress, as appears by re- 
cent journals, P^re Edouard, a Dominican, urged, as 
an infallible means to save France and the Church, 
the Devotion of the Perpetual Eosary, while Pfere 
Eamifere, a Jesuit, stoutly defended the Devotion of 
the Sacred Heart as more efficacious. Monseigneur 
de Segur said that the Holy Virgin shows very good 
taste by choosing France for the theatre of her ap- 
paritions, and that Gallicism in France is dead and 
buried since the 19th of July, 1870. He declared 
himself in favor of the Sacred Heart, which was 
finally sustained against the Perpetual Eosary.f 

* See descriptions of several apparitions of the Virgin in 1872, in 
Michaud, "L'figlise Catholique Romaine en France," pp. 54, 55, 56. 
t The new *' devotions" which are constantly springing up in 



162 Medioeval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

The failure of many of these attempts is more 
especially owing to a circumstance which, notwith- 
standing great apparent triumphs, seems to be sap- 
ping the foundations of the Devotion of the Sacre 
Coeur and of La Salette — the want of a catch-word, 
a tangible rallying-point in the shape of a dogma, a 
quotable maxim or aphorism, in short, of what, in 

France, Alsace, and Belgium are not always directly connected with 
the worship of the Virgin. Take, for example, the recent case of 
Louise Lateau, a French girl, who had the stigmata, or marks of the 
nails of the Crucifixion, miraculously impressed upon her, was often 
thrown into ** ecstasies" or trances, and was finally commanded, by 
divine revelation, to abstain from earthly food, receiving no nourish- 
ment but the consecrated wafer of the sacrament daily administered 
to her by the priest. This delusion was kept up for many months, 
and excited great discussion in France and Germany, the genuineness 
of the miracle being stoutly defended by the ultramontane clergy. At 
last a ** strong-minded" sister interfered, and refused the priests ad- 
mission to the girl's room. Upon this she soon called for food, re- 
turned to common life, and the supernatural manifestations ceased. 

Another late candidate for celestial honors is the blessed Germaine 
Cousin, a wonder-working shepherdess of Pibrac, in the French De- 
partment of La Haute Garonne, who was beatified in 1867. 

The municipal council of Toulouse, having impiously refused to vote 
a statue to this holy girl, the city has incurred the divine wrath, and, 
according to the Gazette de Nimes, *'it is probable that the fearful 
inundation of 1875 at Toulouse \vas a terrible punishment inflicted by 

Heaven for this scandalous refusal If the city council had voted 

what was asked. Divine Providence would not have treated the capi- 
tal of Languedoc so severely." And, again : *' We prefer," said they, 
**a fountain to a statue. God has sent them an overwhelming 
fountain." According to the same authority, the only portion of the 
city walls which resisted the fury of the flood was *^that constructed 
by the old monarchy.'* 



Mariolatry in France. 163 

these days of deep and thoughtful investigation into 
foundations, is called a jprincijple. At one of the 
congresses of the Holy Alliance, the assembled sov- 
ereigns proclaimed "Totus mundus stultizat et im- 
aginarias Constitutiones quserit" — The whole world 
is gone a-fooling after constitutions. Men now go 
a -fooling after principles, even if they signify no 
more than that " crumpets is wholesome," and gov- 
ern their lives by jingles of words and hollow max- 
ims which they imagine to be of necessary and fun- 
damental truth. Of course in this enlightened gen- 
eration a brand-new devotion will thrive the better if 
it has this capital stock to show as its raison d'etre. 
The prevalence of the potato- rot in the Isere and 
the profane swearing of the wagoners of that rustic 
and obscure department were hardly a digmis vin- 
dice nodus demanding the intervention of a goddess, 
hardly a basis on which to found a new religious 
dispensation. A " new departure " must clearly be 
taken. The picturesque and easily accessible valley 
of Lourdes, in the vicinity of attractive scenery much 
visited by tourists, and closely connected with fre- 
quented watering-places (so that the fashionable 
world might conveniently resort thither " to repent 
at idle times"), with no rival shrine in the neighbor- 
hood, and with a population of such advanced intelli- 



164 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

gence that a number of them could read, write, and 
cipher, and that several newspapers (including, of 
course, the Univers^ and, alas! even the Revue des 
Deux Mondes) had subscribers among them, was se- 
lected as the scene of the new avatar. It was obvi- 
ous that with such advantages, and with the help of 
a good working " principle," Lourdes might do much. 
These expectations have been realized, and in fact 
the very initial wonders of Lourdes have not been 
surpassed even by the rnerveilles of General Fail- 
ly's chassepots at Montana. In the 7nise en scene the 
Madonna of Lourdes much resembled Our Lady of 
La Salette, but it was more artistically conceived and 
executed — better got up, in short — and it had, what 
La Salette wanted, a fulcrum, a ttou (xrw, in the dogma 
of the Immaculate Conception promulgated in 1854 
by Pius IX. This dogma had been strenuously re- 
sisted by the wisest portion of the Catholic clergy, 
and though most of them had nominally submitted, 
yet the new article of faith had by no means settled 
down into an accepted doctrine in 1858. A revela- 
tion on this point would do much to crush opposition 
on the one hand, and to edify and encourage the 
more docile on the other. The Immaculate Concep- 
tion, therefore, was judiciously selected as the nucle- 
us of the new devotion, and it is not strange that the 



Mariolatry in France. 165 

present pope should regard this confirmation of a dog- 
ma of his own definition with marked favor. The 
authoritative historian of this apparition is Mr. Hen- 
ri Lasserre ; and the edition of the work we quote, a 
large octavo of 400 pages, is accompanied with a brief 
from Pius IX., dated the 4th of September, 1869, 
recognizing tlie genuineness of the manifestation, 
and praising the book and its author according to 
their merits, which indeed are great. Mr. Lasserre 
has devoted much time and labor to his work, has 
visited the sacred locality, taken long journeys to 
confer with witnesses, and made personal investiga- 
tion into every accessible source of information as to 
the reality of the miracle. In short, to use his own 
words, he has endeavored " to follow the excellent 
method so admirably employed by Thiers, in acute 
research and diligent and persevering labor of prep- 
aration for writing liis great work, ^ The Consulate 
and the Empire.' " Mr. Lasserre evidently feels that 
he has equaled, if not surpassed, his prototype. We 
will not undertake to draw a parallel between the 
two writers in point of literary merit, especially in 
style, because we are obliged to content ourselves 
with a Dutch translation of the new Gospel,^ which 

* The translator's name is not given. W^e are unable to reveal 
what his blushing modesty withholds, but we run little risk in saying 



166 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Jfirades. 

does not soothe the ear so agreeably as Mr. Thiers's 
well-turned periods. But, in justice to both, we are 
bound to say that the Chauvinism of the one and the 
religious enthusiasm of the other have borne fruit of 
much the same quality, and as historical monuments, 
the apotheosis of Bonaparte in "Le Consulat et 
I'Empire," by Mr. Thiers, and the glorification of the 
Virgin of Lourdes by Mr. Lasserre, as we have it in 
the Low -Dutch version, "Onze Lieve Yrouw van 
Lourdes," have about an equal right to be considered 
veracious records. 

The Virgin of Lourdes met with some opposition 
even in ecclesiastical circles; but the discipline of 
the Church soon put to rest all clerical questionings. 
The civil authorities were not so soon disposed of. 
There had been doubting Thomases among the priest- 
hood, and there were Eabshakehs among place-hold- 
ers with figured buttons and embroidered coat -col- 
lars. The question of patronage or suppression went 
from the groundlings of ofiicial life up to syndics, 
prefects, ministers, and was finally laid before the 
majesty of Napoleon III. himself, then in the height 
of his glory as patron of the Eomish Church. But 
Mr. Lasserre shall tell the story in his own eloquent 

that the version is ab uno e Societate Jesu, We use the fourth edi- 
tion, printed at Ghent in 1873. 



Mariolatry in France, 167 

way : " The emperor had quietly watched the origin 
and progress of the new revelation before the minis- 
try appealed to him for instructions. 

" Immovable, according to his habitual custom, si- 
lent like the granite sphinxes which keep watch and 
ward at the gates of Thebes, he viewed the contest ; 
he observed the changing aspects of the struggle in 
expectation that the public conscience would, so to 
say, prescribe to him his decision." — Page 296. "Na- 
poleon is no garrulous monarch. He seldom makes 
his thoughts known by words, but usually by deeds 
only. When he learned the foolish and violent meas- 
ures by which the minister, the prefect, and their 
subordinates had brought the Imperial Govern- 
ment into contempt, his eye flashed, he shrugged 
his shoulders in suppressed wrath. A cloud of pro- 
found indignation spread its wrinkles over his se- 
vere brow. He seized his table-bell and rang it vio- 
lentl3\ 

" A servant appeared. 

"The emperor, meanwhile, had written with a 
trembling hand something upon a slip of paper. He 
folded the paper, gave it to the servant, and said, 
' Carry that to the telegraph !' 

" AVhat he had written was a very brief dispatch 
to the prefect, to the effect that he could not be too 



168 MecUceval and Modem Saints and Miracles, 

quick in recalling his orders with regard to the cave 
of Loiirdes^ and in leaving the people free. 

" The telegraph, say the philosophers, is only light- 
ning. 

" That day the prefect, Baron Massey, was of the 
same opinion as the philosophers. The telegraphic 
thunder-bolt of the emperor fell suddenly before him, 
and he was stunned as if his house had been de- 
stroyed by a stroke of lightning." — Page 303. 

But we are anticipating our narrative. The recip- 
ient of the Lourdes revelation was Bernadette Soubi- 
rans, a stupid girl of fourteen, affected with some or- 
ganic disease, not altogether so ignorant as her sister 
of La Salette, but who had been taught nothing but 
the Lord's Prayer, the Angelic Salutation, the Creed, 
and the Gloria Patri, which she said with her rosary. 
The vision much resembled that of La Salette. Las- 
serre describes the costume of the lady with a gusto 
which betrays the assistance of a professional quo- 
diste. We can not follow him in these details, but 
we can conscientiously recommend the translation 
we are using to any lady desirous of familiarizing 
herself with the Low-Dutch vocabulary of the art of 
millinery. 

Bernadette saw the apparition eighteen times on 
different days, and on each occasion she had compan- 



Mariolatry in France. 169 

ions or spectators, sometimes as many as twenty thou- 
sand, who saw and heard nothing. One is not sur- 
prised to learn that Louis Veuillot, editor of the Uni- 
vers^ was present on one of these occasions. As the 
lady did not speak on her first and second appear- 
ance, the companions of the girl advised her to bring 
pen, ink, and paper the next time she went to the 
scene of the visions — a lonelj^ mountain glen closed 
by a precipice known as Massabielle, or the Old Eock 
— in order that the lady, whom they conjectured to 
be a soul in purgatory, might write her wishes. The 
girl offered them to the apparition, but the lady 
opened her lips, and said : " What I have to say to 
you I need not write. Do me the favor to come 
here [daily] for a fortnight." — Page 46. At one of 
the appearances the lady made two communications 
to the girl, one a secret for herself, the other a mes- 
sage for " the priest," ordering that a chapel be built 
for her. The priest directed the girl to ask the lady, 
at her next manifestation, to give some token, some 
evidence of her power. " It is February," said he ; 
" tell her to make a rose-bush bloom if she wishes a 
chapel built." The girl communicated the message, 
but did not receive a direct reply. The vision smiled, 
told her to pray for sinners, and communicated to 
her another personal secret. At the next interview 

8 



170 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

a third personal secret was communicated, and Ber- 
nadette was told to drink and wash at the spring, and 
eat some of the herbs which grew around it. There 
being no spring near, the girl was confounded, but 
she dug with her hands at the spot pointed out by 
the Yirgin. Muddy water flowed into the hole and 
gradually swelled into a plentiful fountain, which 
still continues to flow."^ At the next appearance of 

* Monsieur Lasserre took the pains to gauge the spring, and informs 
us, .with praiseworthy exactness, that the delivery is 85 litres per min- 
ute, which he computes to be equal to 5100 litres per hour, or 122,400 
litres per natural day of twenty-four hours. As only a homeopathic 
dose of the miraculous fluid is needed for a cure, this supply of about 
1000 barrels per day is enough for the present domestic and foreign 
market ; and we have little doubt that it will increase in proportion to 
the demand. 

The water of Lourdes, warranted to * ' keep good for any length of 
time in any climate," is now exported by the cask to the Spanish 
American States ; and it is not improbable that the fervor inspired by 
the introduction of this new religious stimulant aided the priests to 
stir up the mob that murdered a Protestant clergyman in the city of 
Mexico a few months since ; and very likely it had a part in the still 
more recent burning of witches in that enlightened country, in the 
submission of Ecuador to papal dictation, and in the riots in New 
Granada. The liability of this sacred fluid to the excise tax, on sale 
for use elsewhere than at the spring, has proved a knotty question in 
France. The local authorities attempted to enforce the payment of 
the duty, and lawyers could see no ground for a distinction between 
the water of this spring and that of ordinary healing mineral springs ; 
but the Central Government at Paris, having duly considered this 
weighty problem, a grand renfort de besides^ was of opinion that the 
w^ater of Lourdes, not being a natural or an artificial product, is not 
taxable, and decreed accordingly. It appears from later advices that 



Mariolatry in France. 171 

the lady, Bernadette begged lier to tell her "who 
she was, and what was her name." The apparition 
folded her hands, looked up to heaven, said, "Z am 
the Immaculate Concejption P'^ and vanished from 
sight. The formula thus enunciated, on the author- 
ity of the Virgin herself, a "principle" was pro- 
claimed around which a new organization of devo- 
tees could rally, and the great object of the manifes- 
tation was attained. The motive of the Virgin, Mr. 
Lasserre thinks, was " to bear witness, by her appear- 
ance and her miracles, to the truth of the latest doc- 
trine defined and proclaimed by the Church and by 
St. Peter, speaking by the mouth of Pius IX., a dog- 
matical matter of faith." — Page 169. Our philosoph- 
ical historian attaches great importance to the form 
of the declaration. " The Mother of Our Lord Jesus 
Christ did not say, ' I am the Immaculate Mary,' but, 
' I am the Immaculate Conception,' as if to express 
the perfect and essential quality of the divine priv- 
ilege which she alone, since Adam and Eve were 
created by God, possesses." — Page 168. 

Bernadette's success excited emulation. Many idle 
children, among them one of the choir-boys in Ber- 

the same question, is now pending at Rio Janeiro in reference to the 
customs duty on a case of four dozen bottles of Lourdes water just im- 
ported into that city, on speculation, by way of tr}'iDg the market. 



172 JfecUcBval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

nadette's cliurchj saw visions apparently not less re- 
markable than those of the girl ; but the curate, wor- 
thy Mr. Peyramale, who seems to have been the ad- 
ministrator of the miracle from the beo:innino^, im- 
mediately took active measures to suppress these 
manifestations, and Bernadette remained without a 
rival. Our readers will probably not find it difficult 
to conjecture how this enlightened man was able to 
distinguish between the true miracle and the false. 

The orders of the Virgin for the construction of a 
house of worship were obeyed ; the foundations of a 
, stately church, which has since been completed in a 
^Vfetyle of great magnificence, were immediately laid ; 
hospices and other buildings for the accommodation 
of pilgrims have been erected ; and the line of a rail- 
way in course of construction from Tarbes to Pan 
w^as changed so as to pass by Lourdes, at a consider- 
able expense as well as increase of distance. But, 
as we have said, the great advantage of Lourdes over 
its rivals, Paraj^-le-Monial and La Salette, lies in the 
possession of a catch-w^ord connected with a favorite 
dogma of the Church. The revelation of the La Sa- 
lette apparition was trivial and insignificant, and its 
reputation is sustained wholly by its miracles and by 
the patronage of a powerful party who use it for po- 
litical purposes. But miracles grow on every bush. 



Mariolatry in France. 173 

No religious imposture fails for lack of supernatural 
proof. The miracles of La Salette were outdone by 
those of Lourdes even in the infancy of that revela- 
tion. La Salette, having no solid basis, and lying re- 
mote from frequented routes of travel and places of 
fashionable resort, is gradually sinking into a mere 
local superstition. The Devotion of the Sacred 
Heart is, indeed, wide-spread and flourishing ; but it 
is only by a strong effort and the patronage of French 
official circles, which cherish it as especially a nation- 
al dispensation, that it is kept up. The devotion of 
Lourdes, on the contrary, has all the elements of self- 
support. By the laws of action and reaction the won- 
ders of Lourdes have magnified the dogma of the di- 
vinity of Mary, and the growth and diffusion of that 
faith have given a new sacredness to the scene of the 
apparition of Massabielle which so signally confirmed 
it. Hence the Devotion of Lourdes is a growing re- 
ligion, and, as nothing succeeds like success, its first 
triumphs have been already far outshone by its later 
glories. The crowds of votaries increase every day. 
New and more brilliant miracles are hourly wrought. 
The demand for its water is extending, arrangements 
have been made for its regular exportation to for- 
eign countries, and it competes everywhere with the 
mineral waters of atheist Germany and other pro- 



174 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

fane sources in partibus infidelium!^ The "New 
Sinai," or La Salette, is paling before the rock of 
Massabielle. To the superficial observer nothing 
seems wanting to assure the permanent supremacy 
of the Dispensation of Lourdes. But France loves 
novelty. There is a fresh heavenly revelation some- 
where on her sacred soil every year, as there is a new 
revolution in her Government. The gross and repul- 
sive materialism of Paray-le-Monial may at last dis- 
gust even France, and better taste may perhaps find 
a substitute for the fountain of Lourdes in new stars 
which are rising above the celestial horizon. 

The Vatican had, for a time, the intention of in- 
corporating Joseph, the husband of Mary, into the 
Godhead ; but for the present he has been advanced 
only to the dignity of Patron of the Church, a posi- 
tion which had become vacant by the downfall of its 
late incumbent, K"apoleon IIL This post has been 
but a sinecure during the two years w^hich have 
elapsed since the promotion of Joseph, but a new ap- 
parition and a few miracles may make him a for- 
midable rival to the cultus of the Sacred Heart and 

* The administrators of the Devotion of Lourdes have added a new 
stimulus to the fervor of French worshipers, by announcing that the 
favor of their Virgin is promised to France in the coming war with 
the German Empire, and she is now popularly known as La Vierge 
de la Revanche, the Bellona of the War of Revenge. 



Marioldtry ^7^ France. 175 

the Devotion of the Virgin. The greatest danger to 
tliese devotions, however, is that prefigured in the 
photograph we have mentioned. In that design, 
Mary appears in the part formerly assigned to Christ, 
at the right hand of the Heavenly Father ; and the 
central position of the scene, in the radiance of the 
efflux from the dove, is occupied by Pius IX. Mary 
and the Immaculate Conception have had their glo- 
rification at Lourdes; Pius IX. and the dogma of 
papal infallibility are entitled to theirs. Infallibility 
is a higher prerogative tlian sinless purity, and the 
material worship of Pome will reach i^s consum- 
mation only when Pius IX. — possibly not before 
his death — shall reveal himself to some Jesuit ^rd>- 
Ugee and proclaim, "I am the Papal Infallibili- 
ty!" 

The legendary lore of modern Italy, absurd and 
often demoralizing as it is, falls, nevertheless, short 
of that of France in a quality which is best expressed 
by a French word, niaiserie. The Italian intellect 
can not readily dive to a bathos in which Gallic su- 
perstition floats as at its natural level, and consequent- 
ly the better -instructed classes in Italy reject with 
scorn foolish and profane fables which seem to be 
readily accepted by the majority of even educated 
men and women in France, and by too many of the 



176 Medioeval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

same relative social position in Great Britain and 
the United States. 

The eminent Monseigneur Dupanloup, Bishop of 
Orleans, who, according to Nau, sustained the mirac- 
ulous manifestation of the Virgin of La Salette, late- 
ly issued to the clergy of his diocese a long letter on 
jnodern prophecies and prodigies. Having unfortu- 
nately committed himself in favor of La Salette, the 
bishop was obliged to be cautious in speaking of re- 
cent miracles^ but he is very severe on jprophecies^ 
and justifies himself by citing cases where the Holy 
OflBce at Rome — one, mirahile dictit! even in the 
time of Pius IX. — has condemned pretended revela- 
tions, prophecies, ecstasies, visions of our Lord Jesus 
Christ and of the Holy Yirgin, as '' frauds and false- 
hoods." How Monseigneur Dupanloup discriminates 
between the impostures which he and Pope Pius IX. 
have sanctioned, and those which he and Pope Pius 
IX. have condemned, he does not inform his clergy. 
He could not, of course, explicitly denounce by 
name the Sacre Coeur, La Salette, and Lourdes, be- 
cause, not to speak of his own unfortunate self-com- 
mittal, an authority to w^liich he must at least affect 
to bow has recognized them as genuine ; but his lan- 
guage most unequivocally embraces them all, and we 
can not but hope that his letter is meant as a recan- 



Mariolatry in France, 11 '7 

tation of the approval he had given to cheats and 
superstitions from which his better reason recoils. 

We have hinted that these devotions have been 
nsed for political effect, and have been sustained by 
the influence of official circles. Persons who are not 
familiar with the polity of states which recognize a 
particular sect as constituting an official or nation- 
al church, have little conception of the vast moral 
power exerted by the governments of such countries 
in religious matters, even when no legal restrictions 
exist against dissent. Wherever there is a state re- 
ligion, religion in the governing class is purely an af- 
fair of state, and the higher circles conform to tlie 
official reh'gion as rigorously, if not as conscientious- 
ly, as to the court costume at royal entertainments. 
When the miracles reported to be wrought at the 
tomb of the Abbe Paris, who died in the odor of 
sanctity in the reign of Louis XIV., produced an ex- 
citement which threatened the public peace, the su- 
pernatural manifestations were suppressed by a royal 
edict, which, though parodied by the wits, was acqui- 
esced in by the multitude without a murmur. The 
governments of Catholic countries have rarely en- 
countered any serious opposition from the people 
in carrying out measures of ecclesiastical reform. 
The Government of Italy has not had the slightest 



178 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

difficulty — except from foreign intrigue — in abolish- 
ing tlie ecclesiastical courts, in making civil marriage 
obligatory, in suppressing the convents, and finally in 
forcibly discrowning the pope of a diadem, his usur- 
pation of which had been sanctioned by the tame 
acquiescence of a thousand years. Portugal, Spain, 
and Naples expelled the Jesuits from their dominions 
even while the society was sustained by the Holy 
See; and the successive tottering governments of 
Spain found their people readily submissive to all the 
late laws which tend to overthrow the domination 
of the priesthood. In short, for centuries civil gov- 
ernment has proved itself to possess stronger moral 
power than Rome, w^herever it has had the courage 
to defy her. The papacy lives chiefly by political 
support, and the shrewder of the French devotees at 
the three fashionable shrines of Paraj^-le-Monial, La 
Salette, and Lourdes are rather courting the favor of 
rulers and aristocrats than suing for celestial graces ; 
for the Tuileries, not the Vatican, is the real capital 
of the Franco-Romish religion. 

There is, perhaps, no one respect in which the gen- 
eral opinion of our times so much exaggerates the 
achievements of modern progress, and the power and 
value of modern improvement, as in its estimate of 
the present deptli and diffusion of intellectual culture 



Mariolatry in Finance. 179 

among the Christian population of the world. We 
fancy that the Christendom of the nineteenth centu- 
ry is too securely enlightened to be in any danger of 
a relapse into the blackness of darkness which cov- 
ered the earth a thousand years ago. But the cha- 
otic age which preceded the reign of Charlemagne 
gave birth to no more senseless and degrading super- 
stitions, to no blanker idolatry and f etichism^ in relig- 

* Idolatry is the ascription of the divine essence or attributes to a 
created being or thing, whether a person, an image, or a representa- 
tive object, conceived to be entitled to worship as an impersonation or 
incorporation of the Deity. The term fetichism (the Portuguese/ez- 
tigo^ fictitious, delusive, magical) is sometimes applied to the worship 
of malignant demons, but in present usage it more commonly signifies 
religious homage or adoration paid to a material creature or thing, 
supposed to be endowed with preternatural power of good or evil, and 
to be capable of propitiation by superstitious observances. Hence the 
worship of the Virgin Mary as partaking of the divine essence, ac- 
cording to the definition we have quoted from Suarez, St. Dionysius, 
St. Bernardin, St. Pier Damiano, and St. Buonaventura, and as she is 
actually conceived of by the ignorant classes in countries where the 
Romish religion prevails, is idolatry. With the refined and spiritual- 
ly minded among the devotees of the Sacred Heart, sentiments of rev- 
erence for the divine may, and doubtless do, underiie and elevate the 
worship to the dignity of idolatry ; but with those who accept the ma- 
terialism of Father Gallifet and the manual of St. Sulpice— and these, 
w^e fear, are the majority — their devotion is as purely a fetichism as 
the direct adoration of a block, or the propitiation of a bread-fruit-tree 
by a sacrifice. The worship of relics, as inherently possessed by mi- 
raculous powers and virtues, belongs to the same class. It may, how- 
ever, claim some indulgence, as having a foundation in the natural in- 
terest we feel in material objects connected with the life of those whom 
we regard with love or veneration. But there are many Komish fe- 



180 MedicBval and Modern Saiiits and Miracles. 

ion, to no more arrogant clainij no more tyrannical 
exercise of ecclesiastical power, than have disgraced 
the generation in which we live. The impostures of 
miracle- w^orkers are as gross, the abuses of ecclesias- 
tical discipline as flagrant, the stolid slavery of the 
reason and the conscience to priestly authority as ab- 
ject, in a large proportion of the highest and the low- 



tichisms, such, for example, as that of the ahitino, or scapulary of Mary 
— a sort of under-jacket of blue silk — which have not this palliation. 
*' As men think themselves honored by having in their service persons 
who wear their livery," says De'Liguori, " so Mary is gratified if her 
devotees wear her scapulary." The efficacy of this '* livery " is such 
that those who wear the ahitino of the Immaculate Conception are en- 
titled to the benefit of all indulgences granted to any devotion, holy 
place or person. Every time they recite six Pateraosters, Ave Marias, 
and Gloria-Patris, they acquire five hundred and thirty- three plenary, 
and innumerable temporal, indulgences, all transferable per inodum 
snffragii to souls in purgatory or other sinners in need. The scapu- 
lary must be worn day and night until quite worn out ; and if it has 
been duly blessed, the benediction — in bestowing which the priest plays 
the part of the medicine-man or conjurer — will pass by succession to 
the new one which replaces it, without any new ceremony, and so on, 
toties quoties. — Glorie di Maria, Ossequio VI., vol. ii. The ahitino 
has the great advantage of sparing the wearer the trouble of expensive 
pilgrimages, visits to particular churches, charities, and good works of 
all descriptions, and is a convenient substitute for medals, crucifixes, 
amulets, and relics. Hence it is one of the most eligible contrivances 
yet devised for securing the soul-hele of the possessor, and at the same 
time for encouraging national industry, by promoting the sale of some 
millions of sleazy blue jackets every year. This pitiful superstition 
has been sanctioned by many papal ordinances, and, as might be ex- 
pected, these have all been confirmed by the never-failing Pius IX. by 
decree dated December 3d, 1847. 



Mariolatry in Fran ce. 181 

est ranks in populations which claim the Christian 
name, as at any period of European history known to 
us. It is wdthin the life-time of most, if not of all, 
w^ho will read this article, that Jewish children have 
been kidnaped by priests, to be educated in the 
Romish religion f" that erring nuns have been built 

* Edgar Mortara is the son of Solomon Mortara, a Jewish mer- 
chant and manufacturer of Bologna, then under the joint dominion of 
the pope and of Austria, and was born at that city in 1852. At the 
age of two years he was so severely ill that his physicians gave him 
over, and discontinued their visits. A Catholic Jewish servant in the 
family seized an opportunity, when no other persons were present, to 
baptize the child. Edgar, however, unexpectedly recovered, and the 
fact of his baptism was concealed for four years. About this time an- 
other child of the family fell ill and died. Before his death, an old 
woman advised the servant, who still remained in the family, to save 
him from eternal misery by baptizing him. The servant told her old 
friend that she had baptized Edgar when supposed to be at the point 
of death, but intimated that the sacrament had availed nothing, be- 
cause the child had recovered, remained with his parents, and was 
growing up as a Jew ; she therefore refused to repeat the experiment 
with the other child. The old woman revealed the facts to her con- 
fessor, who reported them to the bishop, and he, in turn, to the car- 
dinal legate. One evening in June, 1858, by order of that prelate, a 
detachment of the police took possession of the house of the father, 
and at four o'clock the next afternoon tore Edgar from the arms of 
his mother, and he was carried to Kome in a carriage between two 
bailiffs. The family were frantic with grief, and in the course of the 
day the principal Jews of Bologna interceded with the cardinal to 
spare the child, and resorted to the means commonly employed by the 
Jews to escape persecution by Catholic rulers, the offer of a large sum 
of money, but in vain. The boy was placed in a religious house at 
Rome with catechumens, and afterward transferred to San Pietro, in 
Vincoli. The father repaired to Rome, and had audiences of the pope 



182 Mediceval and Modern Saints a7id Miracles. 

up in convent walls ; that the papacy has proclaimed 
itself divinely inspired and infallible; that a pon- 

and of Cardinal Antonelli, but got nothing but empty words. He re- 
turned again with the mother, but even her anguish failed to soften 
the stony hearts of the pontiff and his minister. The parents were al- 
lowed to see the boy, who was of an excessively timid character, but 
only in presence of a priest, and when his mother asked him whether 
he wished to go home with her, he turned to her to say yes, but a 
look from his keeper, which he well understood, deterred him from 
expressing his wish. He was now sent to Alatri, whither his parents 
followed him ; but they were soon obliged to flee, because the mob, 
whom the priests had persuaded that the parents meant to kill the 
child to prevent his being brought up as a Christian, assailed them 
with threats of taking their lives if they did not instantly leave the 
town. The family removed to Turin in 1859, and the father visited 
Paris and London, in the hope of obtaining diplomatic aid for the re- 
lease of his son. More than one foreign power exerted itself in his 
behalf, and the public opinion of the whole civilized world severely 
condemned the papacy. Even Louis Napoleon, who was then in mil- 
itary possession of Rome, and could, of course, have rescued the child, 
if so disposed, expressed disapproval of the conduct of the priests and 
their head, but refused to take strong measures to repair the wrong. 
The boy was carefully educated at Rome, made great proficiency in 
his studies, was much flattered and caressed by the pope, and received 
early ecclesiastical promotion. In 1870, after the liberation of Rome, 
the father and brother visited the city ; but the arts of the priests had 
weaned the heart of the youth, then eighteen years of age, from his 
natural affections, and he no longer desired to return to his family. 
But the priests, fearing the eflect of continued intercourse with his 
friends, sent him to Belgium. By a papal dispensation he received 
full orders as a priest before the canonical age, together with a lucra- 
tive benefice in France, where he still remains, and he has preached 
with much success in that country and in Belgium. 

Keller, author of " L'Encyclique du 8 Decembre, 1864, et les Prin- 
cipes de 1789," a book rivaled in absurdity only by some of the works 
of Donoso Cortes, affirms, p. 151, that ** the Church has always pro- 



Mariolatry in France. 183 

tifical encyclical letter has formally approved every 
doctrine proclaimed, sanctioned every official act per- 

fessed and maintained, as an inviolable principle, not only respect and 
tolerance for those who are not born in her bosom, but also their lib- 
erty to educate their children in their own worship ;" and, again, p. 296 : 
" The [Romish] Church has always proclaimed and respected, more 
than any other, the right of parents to educate their children in their 
own belief, however erroneous. If there occurs, from century to cent- 
ury, an exception like that of little Mortara, such exceptions have the 
adv^antage of establishing, in a formal manner, the limits which tlie 
Church has prescribed to herself and the infinite precautions with 
which she has surrounded the rights of the parents." He proceeds to 
state that the Church forbids the baptism of Jewish children without 
the consent of the parents, '•''except in case of imminent danger of 
death,^^ and justifies the kidnaping of the child Mortara by the priests 
on the ground that " he had become a Christian, in spite of the Church, 
as it were," and that his baptism by the servant "gave him a right 
to be educated in the full knowledge of the truth," and the pope 
" would have given his own life rather than abandon a soul for which 
he had become responsible." 

The sincerity of the Church in such professions may be judged by 
the following case, in which there was no pretense of ''imminent dan- 
ger of death," and yet the child, baptized in direct violation of the 
pretended rules of the Church, was forcibly detained from the parents 
by the priests : 

On the 25th of July, 1864, Joseph Coen, a boy nine years of age, 
the son of Jewish parents residing at Rome, disappeared from the shop 
of a Catholic shoe-maker to whom he had been apprenticed, and who 
at last confessed that he had secretly baptized the child, and given him 
up to a priest to be conducted to the school of catechumens. The 
parents repaired to the convent in search of their son, but were driven 
away with bnital insult, and the mother was saved from imprisonment 
only by the intervention of the French embassador. Influential per- 
sons, including the Catholic members of the diplomatic corps, endeav- 
ored to effect the release of the boy, but the Roman Curia paid no heed 
to their remonstrances. Upon the liberation of Rome by the Italian 



184 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

formedj renewed every claim advanced, by the Eom- 
isli See and priesthood in the long period of their ex- 
istence. And, to crown all, it is but five years since 
one of the crudest and bloodiest of religious perse- 
cutors was canonized by Pope Pius IX., and declared 
a worthy object of adoration for the perpetration of 
atrocities never surpassed in the wildest excesses of 
human wickedness.^ 

In our self-complacent security against the return 
of mediaeval barbarism, we habitually forget that 
there are important countries in both Europe and 
America w^here the proportion of the people who 
have received scholastic training at all, or indeed any 
instruction except catechetical lessons, is smaller than 
it is in Mohammedan Turkey and in some other Ori- 
ental lands, and not very much greater than it was in 
the darkest period of the Middle Ages in Europe. 
If we inquire what per cent, of the inhabitants of the 

army on the 20th of September, 1870, Joseph's parents, who had re- 
moved to Leghorn, returned to Rome in the hope of recovering their 
child, but were assured by the superior of the convent that he had 
run away, and that nothing was known of him. After an active search 
by the new pohce, he was found in the house of a lay employe of the 
convent, to whom he had been committed for concealment, and was 
restored to his parents by the Royal Government. His discovery took 
place just in time to prevent him from being carried off in disguise by 
an Irish priest, in pursuance of an arrangement between the superior 
of the convent and the priest. 
* See Appendix XII. 



Mariolatry in France. 185 

Latin, Celtic, or Slavonic states of the Old "World, or 
of the Ilispano -American countries of the New, or 
even of our own Southern and South-western terri- 
tory, so much as know the letters of the alphabet, we 
shall find that in several of them, from one-tenth to 
one-third only of the males, and scarcely more than 
half of that proportion of the females, have the slight- 
est acquaintance with the arts of reading and writ- 
ing. And even of those whom educational statistics 
report as able to read, a large share are not sufficient- 
ly instructed to comprehend any written or printed 
matter except the simplest possible narrative ; while 
of those who read with a certain fluency, and write 
sufficiently well to keep their own accounts, there are 
comparatively few who can follow the drift of a ser- 
mon, or a forensic or political discourse, or under- 
stand any argument which does not assume the form 
of an appeal to their prejudices or their passions. 

In the German states, in Great Britain, and in the 
Northern United States, the masses are better in- 
structed ; but even here it is constantly apparent that 
mere knowledge of words and facts, though an in- 
dispensable means of mental culture, does not neces- 
sarily imply any such discipline of the reasoning fac- 
ulty as to qualify the possessor to form a legitimate 
judgment on any abstract moral proposition, or to ar- 



186 Medioeval and Modern Saints and Ifiracles. 

rive at sound conclusions in problems which can be 
solved only by following a course of logical argu- 
ment. This is especially seen in the total inability 
of multitudes of persons, highly cultivated in some 
directions, to weigh evidence, whether direct or cir- 
cumstantial, and determine which way the balance 
inclines. We believe, indeed, that we do not go too 
far in saying that, even in what are called the edu- 
cated classes, most men adopt opinions, or rather 
cherish prejudices or bow to authority, without ever 
rising to the formation of a judgment upon any ab- 
stract question of a complex character or permanent 
interest. The aristocratic English pilgrims who 
flock to Paraj^-le-Monial and to Lourdes and La Sa- 
le tte do not believe the narratives of the recipients 
of the visions as facts established by reasonable evi- 
dence. They do not exercise their reasoning facul- 
ties at all on the subject. They accept these idle 
tales because, notwithstanding Dr. Newman's insinu- 
ation to the contrary, their Church has recognized 
them as genuine and authentic. Their belief in them 
is a faith founded on authority, not on testimony. 
They are overawed, not convinced, and, in short, 
their minds, so far as such subjects are concerned, 
are in the same condition as those of their ancestors 
in the time of Thomas a Becket, and as those of the 



Mariolatry in France. 187 

most ignorant classes on the Continent at the present 
day.^ 

* That Rome confidently calculates on the unintellectual charac- 
ter of the influential and professedly instructed classes, is shown by a 
thousand proofs, one of which falls under our eye as we write. AVe 
refer to the quotations from a letter from the Bishop of Montpellier 
to the deans and professors of the University of Montpellier, contain- 
ed in the following article in a late number of the London Times, 
The professors are distinctly informed that all their science, even 
"physiology," must conform to the opinions of an infallible pontiff. 

''To the Editor of The Times: 

*'Siii, — A learned French friend has favored me with a copy of a 
letter recently published in France, and bearing the following title : 
'Letter of Monsignor the Bishop of Montpellier to the Deans and 
Professors of the Faculties of Montpellier.' Its date is the 8th of 
this month of December, 1875. One or two extracts from it may not 
be without their value for the people of England and of America, to 
whom, in our day, has fallen the problem of education in relation to 
the claims of Rome. 

"The bishop wTites to the deans and professors aforesaid : 

'"Now, gentlemen, the holy Church holds herself to be invested 
with the absolute right to teach mankind ; she holds herself to be the 
depository of the tnith — not a fragmentary truth, incomplete, a mixture 
of certainty and hesitation, but the total truth, complete, from a relig- 
ious point of view. Much more, she is so sure of the infallibility con- 
ferred on her by her Divine Founder, as the magnificent dowiy of 
their indissoluble alliance, that even in the natural order of things, 
scientific or philosophical, moral or political, she will not admit that 
a system can he adopted and sustained hy Christians, if it contradict 
definite dogmas. She considers that the voluntary and obstinate de- 
nial of a single point of her doctrine involves the crime of heresy, and 
she holds that all formal heresy, if it be not courageously rejected 
prior to appearing before God, carries with it the certain loss of grace 
and of eternity. 

" ' As defined by Pope Leo X. at the Sixth Council of the Lateran, 



188 Mediceval ayid Modern Saiiits and Miracles. 

The solid and only secure progress — if, indeed, any 
human gains can be said to be secure — which mod- 

*' Truth can not contradict itself; consequently, every assertion con- 
trary to a revealed verity of faith is necessarily and absolutely false.-^* 
It follows from this, without entering into the examination of this or 
that question of physiology^ hut solely by the certitude of our dogjnas, 
we are able to pronounce judgment on any hypothesis which is an 
anti-Christian engine of war rather than a serious conquest over the 
secrets and mysteries of nature.' 

*' Liberty is a fine word, tyranny a hateful one, and both have been 
eloquently employed of late in reference to the dealings of the secu- 
lar arm with the pretensions of the Vatican. But * liberty ' has two 
mutually exclusive meanings — the liberty of Rome to teach mankind, 
and the liberty of the human race. Neither reconcilement nor com- 
promise is possible here. One liberty or the other must go down. 
This, in our day, is the ' conflict ' so impressively described by Dra- 
per, in which every thoughtful man must take a part. There is no 
dimness in the eyes of Rome as regards her own aims ; she sees with 
a clearness unapproached by others that the school will be either her 
stay or her ruin. Hence the supreme effort she is now making to ob- 
tain the control of education ; hence the assertion by the Bishop of 
Montpellier of her * absolute right to teach mankind.' She has, 
moreover, already tasted the fruits of this control in Bavaria, where 
the very liberality of an enlightened king led to the fatal mistake of 
confiding the schools of the kingdom to the * Doctors of Rome.' 

*' Your obedient servant, John Tyndall. 

"Athenaeum, December leth." 

As an illustration of the stultifying influence of a habit of accepting 
legendary tales upon the authority of the priests, we give the following 
anecdote : A lady recently perverted from the religion of her fathers 
to Romanism, being asked by a fiiend of ours whether she believed 
the legend of the Holy House of Loreto, replied, " Not yet, but I 
hope soon to believe it, and I daily pray to God that faith may be 
given me to accept it." No doubt the lady's prayer was heard. A ra- 
tional being who has gone so far as deliberately to ask Heaven to take 
from him Heaven's best gift, reason, is not likely to meet a refusal. 



Mariolatry in France. 189 

ern society has made, is founded not on the supposed 
superior culture, moral or intellectual, of the highest 
ranks, nor on the diffusion of instruction among the 
lowest, but on the conquests which the middle classes, 
and within the present generation the female sex, 
have successively made, first over prejudices instilled 
into their minds by spiritual teachers, and next over 
the usurpations of their temporal and ecclesiastical 
rulers. It was the self-government of the mediaeval 
burgliers and commoners, and especially the practi- 
cal discharge of civil and political duties (out of 
which grew clear conceptions of civil and political 
rights), that rendered these conquests possible. The 
leading principle of all these advances is, that men 
are to be governed not by arbitrary personal author- 
ity, but by their own self-enacted law. This is what 
underlies the strenuous efforts of municipalities and 
small jurisdictions to secure, on every change of sov- 
ereigns, an acknowledgment and ratification of their 
old usages, privileges, local laws, statutes, fueros^ or 
by whatever other name the rules of civic and com- 
munal administration were called. It was not mere- 
ly a blind attachment to old and familiar forms, and 
to old maxims of right, which inspired these strug- 
gles. The burghers adhered to their customary juris- 
prudence, not because it was ancient and sanctioned 



190 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles, 

by time and acquiescence, but because it was the ex- 
pression of their own will and reason, the exercise of 
self-government in the organized tangible form of 
law, as opposed to arbitrary rule. The essential dis- 
tinction between law and naked authority is, that the 
law binds the ruler as well as the subject, and that 
supreme power can not be exercised except in con- 
formity with its provisions. The real question now 
pending between the Church, and w^hat ecclesiastics 
are pleased to call " the world " — between Eome and 
civilization — is, whether society is to be ruled by law, 
or by the arbitrary personal will of functionaries set 
apart from the common life of man, and in no way 
accountable for the use or abuse of their powers. 
And this is not a contest between Catholicism and 
Protestantism. It is a struggle between the Eoman 
Curia, on the one side, and the reason and conscience 
of enlightened humanity, on the other ; and it is as 
hotly w^aged within the nominal pale of the Church 
itself as without it. " Old Catholicism " claims to be 
the expression of the Catholic, not Eomish, idea ; and 
though its professed adherents number only thou- 
sands, its real disciples compose the majority of the 
intellectual and conscientious men and women of the 
Catholic Church. 
If we were called upon to name the general- class, 



Mariolatry in France. 191 

not clique or circle, of persons which most favorably 
represents the real culture — we do not mean polish 
— of the British and the American population^ we 
should say it is that from which juries are ordinarily 
selected. This class, though intelligent as a whole, 
is by no means conspicuous for literary or scientific 
attainment. On the one hand, it admits none who 
have not a certain amount of education, of familiar- 
ity with active and practical life, of reputation for 
candor and integrity, and a certain moral and social 
status in the community. On the other hand, it 
usually excludes professional men, whether lay or 
ecclesiastical, academic teachers, persons in the mili- 
tary and civil public service, and, by legal provision 
or practical indulgence, artists, authors, editors, per- 
sons devoted to scientific pursuits, and very generally 
the members of the wealthy and aristocratic circles. 
Its principal characteristic is a superior good sense, 
and this is in no small degree the fruit, not of book- 
lore, but of the training it receives in the ordinary 
transactions of business life, and in the exercise of 
municipal functions. But the best discipline enjoyed 
by this class is from frequent attendance, as parties, 
witnesses, or jurors, in courts of law, where questions 
of fact, depending upon the comparative weight of a 
vast variety of modes of proof, are constantly sub- 



192 Medieval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

jected to searching examination by acute and prac- 
ticed investigators. The persons of whom juries are 
composed form, too, a large part of the audience 
when questions of finance and matters of political 
economy are publicly discussed in municipal assem- 
blies and at political gatherings, and in this way 
they become familiarized with reasoning upon ques- 
tions of a more abstract nature than those upon 
which they are usually called to pronounce in the 
jury-box. 

The devotees of the experimental sciences, or sci- 
ences of observation, the knowledge of which may be, 
and often is, carried very far with an incredibly small 
amount of general culture and a mere infinitesimal 
degree of large intellectual discipline, and, indeed, 
all persons engaged in special studies or occupations 
acquire much acuteness of judgment in their own 
particular fields of thought and observation, but out 
of this narrow sphere, they are inferior to average 
jurymen in the practical exercise of the logical fac- 
ulties in general reasoning. 

And yet, incontestable as is the superiority of the 
stratum of society from which English and Ameri- 
can jurors are drawn to any other large division of 
the population, as sound judges upon questions of 
fact, or mixed law and fact, what is the present opin- 



Mariolatry in France. 193 

ion of the most experienced British and American 
lawyers in regard to the system of trial by jury as a 
means of arriving at justice and truth ? 

What we call the ornamental circles of modem 
society give abundant evidence that there may be a 
great deal of "sweetness" with very little "light." 
Conspicuous as they are for elegance of manner and 
phrase, and sometimes for a quickness of apprehen- 
sion and readiness of wit which help them to shine 
in repartee, in jpersijiage^ in dexterous equivocation 
and double-entendre^ in ironical expression and sar- 
casm, and even in an aphoristic Weltweisheit which 
simulates wisdom, they rank, nevertheless, quite below 
the middle classes in real practical power of thought 
and judgment. The worship of fashion in manner 
and opinion, as well as in dress, creates not only an 
outward material uniformity in these circles, but a 
mental and moral solidarity which is eminently hos- 
tile to all original and independent exercise of the 
higher and better faculties. This is especially true 
of the latest phase of English society and of its too 
numerous American imitators. Even so lately as 
fifty years ago, personal individuality of thought and 
character was the most conspicuous feature of En- 
glish humanity. With the wide extension of what is 
considered elegant life in England, this trait is fast 

9 



194 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

disappearing. The animal gregarious instinct has 
triumphed over the rational social impulse. The 
suppression of individuality is demanded by the in- 
exorable law of fashion, and good taste forbids any 
departure from the forms consecrated by the self- 
elected hierophants who preside in the drawing- 
rooms of approved society. An affectation of admi- 
ration for all that belongs to European mediaeval 
life, often accompanied with the profoundest igno- 
rance of the real spirit and essence of mediaeval his- 
tory, has been for some time the mode in England 
as well as in America ; and the revival of ecclesiasti- 
cism in religion, made fashionable by Dr. Pnsey and 
his associates, has been followed by a like revival of 
mediaeval taste in art, and by the unearthing of mul- 
titudes of half -forgotten popular superstitions, which 
any person of ordinary intelhgence would have been 
ashamed to own half a century ago. In the circles 
we refer to, old fooleries revived, whether in dress, 
in opinion, in manners, or in religion, are more at- 
tractive than new. Hence it is fashionable for Prot- 
estant gentry to attend the services at semi -popish 
places of worship, to build new churches after Mid- 
dle-age models of most ungraceful, clumsy, and bar- 
barous styles of architecture, to discourse about " ori- 
entation " of churches and the " eastward posture " of 



Mariolatry in France. 195 

the priest ;^ it is thought a graceful feminine weak- 
ness to shrink from dining thirteen at table, or from 
sitting at a stand lighted by three candles ; and, above 
all, among persons affecting the slang and cant of 
modern aesthetical criticism, it is fashionable to talk 
of the peculiar character impressed on mediaeval art 
by the devotional feeling of the builders and carvers 
and painters of the "Ages of Faith." 

* See a letter from E. B. Tylor in a late number of the London 
Times on this "childish fancy," which is unequivocally a heathen 
observance, accepted, indeed, by the Greek, but not by the Romish 
Church. Catholic metropolitan churches or cathedrals, it is true, are 
often placed east and west, but this is because they are built on the 
ancient foundations of duly '* oriented" heathen temples, and in gen- 
eral no attention whatever is paid to the points of the compass, in 
erecting churches in Catholic countries. They conform to the lines 
of the streets, or are posited in compliance with other considerations 
of convenience, as any one may see by referring to a plan of Florence, 
Rome, or any other Italian city. 

We have witnessed ludicrous mistakes by Protestant ecclesiologists 
who have attempted to find the cardinal points and steer their course 
in Italian cites, by "the church ;" but the most extraordinary case of 
"orientation" known to us was in the building of a chapel at a well- 
known scientific school in the United States. It was supposed by the 
learned gentleman consulted on the occasion that not the rising of the 
sun at the equinox, but Jerusalem, was the true Christian Kiblah, 
and therefore that the chapel should front the Holy City. To deter- 
mine the precise direction of Jerusalem was not altogether a simple 
matter, and after much discussion it was decided that the main aisle, 
or longer axis of the chapel, should coincide with a great circle pass- 
ing through its site and the city of Jerusalem, which would of course, 
be the shortest route between the two points. Hence the chapel fronts 
a point some degrees north of Jerusalem, and indeed does not face any 
pai't of Palestine. 



196 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Mirades. 

There were even in the darkest period of the Mid- 
dle Ages, as there have been among the absohite 
skeptics of ancient Greece and Rome, the Moham- 
medans, the Buddhists, and even the pagan popula- 
tions of the world, individuals distinguished by the 
possession of every intellectual quality, every moral 
virtue, which sheds lustre on humanity. But these 
were always, as they are to-day, rare exceptions; 
and a vast majority of the rulers and the people of 
all classes and all countries, in those long centuries, 
w^ere characterized by arbitrary tyranny, vice, igno- 
rance, and superstition to a degree to which the pres- 
ent day scarcely furnishes a parallel ; and we are not 
speaking at random when we affirm that, with a few 
very narrow and very brief exceptions, the best Euro- 
pean government, the best general condition of so- 
called Christian society, in the Middle Ages, were 
worse than the worst now existing in any portion of 
the civilized or even semi-civilized world. The pre- 
tended "Ages of Faith "^ are a pure historical, or 

* Romish and Romanizing authors are generally wise enough to re- 
frain from fixing precise dates and localities in their rhapsodies on 
the *'Ages of Faith ;" and the chronology and geography of the times 
and countries when and where humanity enjoyed the blessedness they 
fable of are much like those of the old romances of chivalry and the 
legends of the Romish Church. Sometimes, however, a writer is reck- 
less enough or ignorant enough to *May the venue," as lawyers say, 
of his fiction with a precision which enables the reader to detect the 



Mariolatry in Finance. 197 

rather, ecclesiastical, fiction, a deceitful and dishonest 
fable, wholly without any basis of fact — at least in 

falsity of his representations. Thus Keller, ''L'Ency clique," etc., p. 
167, in general eulogium on all that is detestable in the history of Eu- 
ropean Christendom, speaks of "les beaux jours de Gregoire VII. et 
d'Innocent III.," the noble age of Gregory VII. and Innocent III. 
To the reigns of these popes belong the establishment of the celibacy 
of the clergy and of obligatory auricular confession — two of the most 
demoralizing measures ever ordained by human power ; the proclama- 
tion and confirmation of the temporal as well as religious supremacy 
of the papacy over all civil governments ; the renewed activity of relig- 
ious persecution stimulated by Innocent III. in his letter to an arch- 
bishop in Western France in 1209, ordering that heretics ''per prin- 
cipes et populum virtute materialis gladii coerceri,^^ he exterminated 
with the sword by princes and peoples ; and in the crusade against the 
Albigenses, undertaken and prosecuted with unscrupulous blood-thirs- 
tiness at his instigation. These beaux jours were followed by an un- 
interrupted succession of others not less splendid, under the papal sway 
of the following centuries down to the reign of Alexander VI., soon 
after which the reaction caused by the Reformation, although it did 
not reclaim Rome, yet checked for the time her further progress in 
the direction she had been so long pursuing. 

The commencement of the **Ages of Faith " is lost in the obscurity 
of early mediaeval history, but they embrace the whole period from 
the earliest trustworthy annals of the papacy down to the reign of Leo 
X., an era, as Gasparin has well described it, **of darkness, of tears, 
of blood, of triumphant iniquity and immeasurable calamity," an 
"iron age, in which Rome ruled all, and humanity sunk to the lowest 
point at which its existence was longer possible." The impression 
made on all candid minds by the thorough study of this period is that, 
to the vast majority of men, its centuries were Ages of Despair, illumi- 
nated by no ray of earthly hope, no intelligent faith in a blessed here- 
after. And yet Keller, "• L'Ency clique," etc., p. 155, thinks that even 
the Inquisition ought to be regarded as a beneficent institution, be- 
cause it ''served as a dike against the overflow of the cruelty of the 
people " toward heretics ! What a religious training the people must 



198 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

the sense usually ascribed to the phrase — a period 
when the popular masses, or even the more intel- 
ligent ranks, devoutly believed in, worshiped, and 
obeyed an unseen God. The faith of the centuries 
thus designated in fashionable religious circles was 
what the Jesuits and their nominally Protestant al- 
lies are trying to make the religion of this genera- 
tion — a faith in fetiches, far more degrading than the 
blindest worship of natural forces impersonated as 
gods ; a faith not a whit more intellectual, more spir- 
itual, or more Christian than that which prompts the 
native population of many countries of British India 
to build, at this day, heathen temples rivaling in di- 
mensions, in cost, in splendor, and in constructive skill 
the proudest triumphs of European religious archi- 
tecture."^ If such a halcyon period, such a Golden 
Age, as religious enthusiasts dream of had ever real- 
ly existed, its central point of supreme excellence 
would, of course, have been at the focus of Eomish 
devotion, the Eternal City and the Pontifical States ; 
and other countries would have been favored with 

have received from their priests if their fury had made them more 
terrible to Jews and Protestants than even the tortm-es of the Inqui- 
sition! See Milman, *' History of Latin Christianity;" Gregnovius, 
*' Geschichte Roms im Mittelalter ;" the chronicles of Burchardus and 
Sufusura ; and the dispatches of Giustinian, just published by Villari. 
* See Fergusson, " History of Architecture," 1867, vol. ii., p. 630. 



Mariolatry in France. 199 

spiritual and temporal blessings in proportion as they 
yielded to the influences which radiated from Eome. 
But the history of the Eomish capital and State dur- 
ing the whole mediseval period is that of an earthly 
pandemonium, where crime reveled unchecked and 
vice received the honors due to virtue. Foreign 
lands, too, have at all times been degraded, depraved, 
and miserable according to the extent to which their 
government and their social institutions have been 
molded and controlled by Rome. 

Nor is there the slightest historical ground for be- 
lieving that the ecclesiastical builders and artists of 
the ages in question were intellectually or morally 
above the general level of their times, or above that 
of the architects and hod-carriers, the railway con- 
tractors and navvies, who execute the plans of " ec- 
clesiologists " and engineers in modern London and 
ITew York. The sickly sentimentality of ecclesiasti- 
cism infers the piety and purity of life of the church- 
builders and decorators of half-forgotten ages from 
the character of their works, as the critic, judging 
from the internal evidence of his writings, thought 
that Thomson must have been a great lover of ath- 
letic sports, rural life, and cold bathing ; or as Tom 
Moore's hymnics prove him to have led a devout and 
godly life, while, with rare exceptions, all we know of 



200 MedicBval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

the actual biographies of mediseval religious artists 
shows that Calandrino, and Buffalmacco, and Dore di 
Topo, and Mariotto Albertinelli, and the like, were on 
the same moral plane as the majority of their profes- 
sional brethren. 

Many among the most ignorant and degraded 
classes in France, in Spain and Portugal, in Italy and 
in Spanish America, do not believe or profess any 
form of even nominal Christianity; w^hile those of 
the same classes who call themselves Catholics are 
often as completely polytheistical and idolatrous in 
their religious faith and practice as the followers of 
any superstition ever invented by man ; and Dr. 
Newman can not be ignorant that it is the teaching 
of his and their Church and its clergy which have 
made them so. If they worship " many gods, but no 
God," it is Jesuit Eome whose instructions and ex- 
ample they are following. 

It is fashionable, especially among essayists, re- 
viewers, and pamphleteers, to sneer at any expression 
of apprehension of danger from the extension of ec- 
clesiastical influence and the spread of popular su- 
perstition in England and the United States, as, in- 
deed, at earnestness of feeling on any moral question, 
or, in fact, on any subject more serious than the mer- 
its of a danseicsey the genealogy of a pug or a lap- 



Mariolatry in France. 201 

dog, or the approaching nuptials of a couple in high 
life. The diplomatic maxim, Sartout^pas de zUe^ is 
a sacred canon in good society, especially in questions 
of ethics, criticism, and religion. A settled moral 
conviction of any sort is a weakness or provincialism, 
implying a want of knowledge of the social culture 
which is the real religion of this age ; and any at- 
tempt at an exposure of the policy of Kome is tri- 
umphantly put down by classing it with the old vul- 
gar mob-watchword of " No Popery." The most ef- 
ficient allies of obscurantism and intellectual slavery 
are those who affect to believe that the religious lib- 
erties of Christendom are in no danger. It is un- 
doubtedly true that in Protestant states, as England, 
Prussia, the United States, and in all countries where 
there is a strong, even if numerically small, Protest- 
ant population (as in France before the Great Catho- 
lic revival under IsTapoleon III.), Pome uses much cau- 
tion in her policy, and employs every art to allay the 
jealous "prejudices" of the Protestants against her 
encroachments. The sermons of her clergy, her pe- 
riodical press, her popular religious literature, her 
schools, are dexterously toned so as to disarm suspi- 
cion and veil her real aims and purposes. Hence the 
populations of these countries are generally wholly 
ignorant as to the real pretensions and purposes of 

9^ 



202 Medioeval and Modem Saints and Miracles. 

that Church ; and few of those under whose eyes this 
essay may fall have any knowledge of Komish leg- 
endary lore — the sole religious popular literature 
now current in Catholic nations — much of which has 
never been translated into English or German, but 
which will be introduced elsewhere as fast as the 
people can be prepared for it. This remark, how- 
ever, is far less true at the present moment than it 
w^ould have been twenty years ago. Since the defi- 
nition of the new dogmas of the Immaculate Concep- 
tion and especially of papal infallibility, Rome has 
become far bolder and more undisguisedly aggress- 
ive than before, and threats of the ultimate suppres- 
sion of religious liberty have appeared even in Amer- 
ican Catholic journals. Various political events have 
recently occurred which have supplied the priesthood 
with new arguments, if not new instruments. Many 
liberal-minded persons in various European countries 
have lately been driven into conservatism by the art- 
ful use made of the excesses of the Communists of 
Paris, who certainly perpetrated in 1871 atrocities 
frightful enough to need no exaggeration, but upon 
whom the Thiers Government has succeeded in 
throwing the responsibility of much destruction com- 
mitted by its own troops in putting down the Com- 
mune, and commencing the work of " vengeance '' 



3fariolatry in France, 203 

so emphatically threatened by Mr. Thiers. The fear 
of "petroleum" lias been a very efficient bugbear 
among the wealthy and aristocratic circles. The 
Jesuits have availed themselves of this feeling, and 
their own ranks, as well as those of the older regular 
orders, have in recent years been, in an uncommonly 
large proportion, recruited from those classes. The 
notion of a solidarity between the aristocracy and 
the Church is industriously propagated. Titles of no- 
bility, orders, and decorations are largely distributed 
by the papacy, and many a vacillating Catholic in 
the higher ranks is reclaimed by the bestowal of a 
star or a ribbon. At the same time, as nothing comes 
amiss to the net of the great " Fisherman," Kome has 
profited by the lessons of Napoleon III., who taught, 
in his doctrine of universal suffrage, the importance 
of securing the lower classes, which wield the brute 
force of nations, and, of course, will be especially 
needed in the appeal to the sword now undisguised- 
ly proclaimed by the Jesuits, as the final arbiter of 
the great social question. They are as assiduous in 
wheedling the mud -sills as in cajoling the ranks 
which form \he pastigia^ the summits and pinnacles, 
of the social fabric. In short. Home is preparing to 
attack, both from above and from below, the middle 
classes, who are everywhere the true depositaries of 



204 Mediceval and Modern Saints and Miracles. 

the strength, the intelligencej and the Tirtiie of the 
modern world. 

The real security of modern society from a return 
of the moral and intellectual midnight of the "Ages 
of Faith" is not to be found in the dilettantisms of 
social or literary culture, or in the indifference of 
skepticism. If we are saved at all from these men- 
acing perils, it must be by appeals to the reason and 
conscience of classes whose training comes, and must 
always come, as much from active, intelligent, and re- 
sponsible participation in the serious and thoughtful 
duties of life as from literary and scientific attain- 
ment. One of these classes we have already pointed 
out, and the other is fast growing in strength and im- 
portance by what we do not hesitate to call the most 
hopeful movement in the social and intellectual his- 
tory of man since the Founder of the Christian relig- 
ion virtually proclaimed the emancipation of the fe- 
male sex by prohibiting arbitrary divorce at the pleas- 
ure of the husband. We mean the recognition of 
the right of woman to the best development of her 
faculties which the resources of modern progress fur- 
nish to either sex. The redemption of the mind and 
heart of woman from the blind submission to moral 
authority, which has so long been inculcated upon 
her as the natural law of her sex, will deprive priest- 



Mariolatry in France. 205 

craft and imposture of their easiest conquests and 
their most efficient instruments. The saints and 
seers of modern superstition are nearly all women. 
In all ages, women, from their depressed and depend- 
ent position, their feeble and nervous bodily organiza- 
tion, the comparative ignorance in which their lords 
have kept them, and their consequent too general 
weakness of character, have been frequently medi- 
ums, if not originators, of religious imposture. The 
prevalence of the false and demoralizing principle, 
proclaimed by priests and libertines alike, that wom- 
en should " cultivate the affections " at the expense of 
the intellect, prepares them to become willing instru- 
ments in the hands of any designing man who suc- 
ceeds in securing their sympathy and good- will ; and 
the cunning so often found associated with physical 
and even intellectual weakness makes them dexter- 
ous auxiliaries in spreading popular delusions. These 
circumstances explain the readiness with which they 
habitually abandon the faith of their fathers and 
their childhood for more sensational or more imag- 
inative forms of religious belief and worship. Relig- 
ious propagandism finds in them its first disciples, its 
most eflScient apostles, and the recruiting-sergeants, 
the SeelenverJcdnfer^ of Rome begin their operations 
upon Protestant circles by misleading the women. 



206 Medioeval and Modern Saiiits and Miracles, 

So long as the current of fashion sets toward cere- 
monialism in religion, so long 

'* Cowls, hoods, and habits * * * 
* * * rags, relics, beads. 
Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls," 

and the preachers who teach their flocks to 

"seek to please 
A God, a spirit, with such toys as these," 

will succeed in catching the fancy of shallow wom- 
en; but when knowledge, mental discipline, and, 
above all, a far wider and higher sphere of action, 
shall have become the acknowledged right and the 
actual possession of the sex, they will, in much larger 
proportion, cherish faiths which ask the evidence of 
no new miracles, worships which can be paid without 
help of material appliances. 



APPENDIX. 



ECCLESIASTICAL FORGERIES. 

The monastic forgeries of the Middle Ages form a subject al- 
together too vast to be disposed of by a simple reference to their 
existence as a well-established and familiarly known fact. The 
multitude of these spurious documents, the wide range of ob- 
jects they embrace, and the extent to which the Romish Church 
is indebted to them for the success of her usurpations of power, 
are little understood in Protestant countries. The thorough 
investigation and complete exposure of these fabrications is 
no longer possible, for so many of the evidences of their falsi- 
ty have been destroyed by the keepers of the ecclesiastical ar- 
chives where they were deposited, that in many cases the his- 
tory and immediate purpose of the concoction of documents 
now certainly known to be false can not be traced. This much, 
however, is certain : that there are few cases of contested right 
on the part of the Romish Church in which forged documents, 
adduced by the papacy, have not at some period or other con- 
tributed to the support and final acceptance of its claims. 

In the case of the " False Decretals," the work of an unknown 
author, though ascribed at first to Isidore of Seville, and aft- 
erward to an apocryphal Isidore Mercator, or Peccator — and 
w^hich, from the middle of the ninth to the end of the fifteenth 
century, received the almost universal assent of Catholic eccle- 
siastical writers — the genuineness of the documents is no long- 
er insisted upon by Rome. They have served their purpose. 
Use has confirmed the usurpations they sanctioned, and the pa- 
pacy now holds by prescription what it indisputably first ac- 
quired by forgery and fraud. 



208 Appendix. 



Catholic historians, though acknowledging the fabrication, 
sometimes affect to doubt whether the Decretals ever had much 
practical iDflueiice. But DoUiuger, who, however heretical at 
present, was orthodox in 1863, when he published his " Papst- 
fabeln des Mittelalters,'^ speaking, in the preface to that work, 
of these and other mediaeval ecclesiastical forgeries, says : "All 
these fables and inventions, however different may have been 
the occasions which gave birth to them, and however definite 
or indefinite may have been the objects of their composition, 
[wie absichtlich oder unabsichtlich sie entstanden sein mogen], 
exerted nevertheless a great and often decisive influence upon 
the whole current of opinion in the Middle Ages, upon the his- 
torical and poetical literature, and upon the theology and juris- 
prudence of that period." The " False Decretals " contain the 
Apostolic Canons, the pretended donation of Constantine, fifty- 
nine letters or decrees attributed to thirty different popes of 
the primitive ages, various genuine extracts from an older col- 
lection long supposed to have been made by Isidore of Seville, 
and thirty-seven apocryphal pontifical decrees, with some other 
less important pieces. Although the collection contains here 
and there an unimportant authentic paper, and some garbled 
and distorted extracts from genuine documents, yet in general 
it is a work of sheer invention, and for three centuries has been 
universally admitted to be so by all Catholics, except possibly 
some half-taught English or American perverts to whose new- 
born zeal the spurious origin of the Decretals is not a fatal ob- 
jection. 

Perhaps the most important single document in this conge- 
ries of forgeries is the alleged donation of the Emperor Con- 
stantine giving to the Church, in sovereignty, a great multi- 
tude of houses, lands, and extensive territories in every part 
of the empire, numerous civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions, 
rights, privileges, and honorary distinctions, all crowned by the 
bestowal of Kome and Italy upon the papacy, in return for his 
baptism and his miraculous cure of the leprosy by Pope Silves- 
ter ; the baptism, the cure, and " Pope Silvester " alike being all 
invented for the occasion. The comprehensive language of the 
donation gave room for much variety of interpretation, and by 
some it was held to embrace all the Mediterranean islands, and 



Appendix, 209 



even Ireland, which the papacy afterward generously bestowed 
upon the crown of England. The mere fact that the grant 
professed to convey an immense number of estates and other 
rights to which the emperor himself had no title was no argu- 
ment against its authenticity ; for in all ages men generally, 
and a fortiori emperors and princes, have found it an easy mat- 
ter to give what did not belong to them. The genuineness of 
the grant was doubted by nobody except the unlucky owners 
of the territories transferred, and they were in the minority, 
and in most cases not strong enough to resist a claim advanced 
under the authority of the emperor and supported by the thun- 
ders of tbe Church. Not a voice was raised against the gen- 
uineness or validity of this preposterous instrument, until the 
time of Wycliffe, near the close of the fourteenth century. 
Many, indeed, seeing the enormous evils resulting from the ex- 
ercise of temporal power by the Church, a power founded on 
this forged donation, deplored the important gTant,* but none 
questioned its authentic character or legally binding force, and 
for more than five hundred years the title of the papacy to all 
the vast possessions thus ostensibly conveyed to it was sup- 
posed to be as incontestable as the right of any sovereign, or 
any private possessor, to the territory or estate over which he 
claimed dominion. 

Although the date and authorship of the "False Decretals^' 
have not yet been historically established, yet they are known 
to have been in existence as early as the middle of the ninth 
century, and Pope Nicholas I. (a.d. 858-867) recognized them as 
authentic, and gave them the full weight of the papal sanction. 
The place of the fabrication of the " False Decretals " is as un- 
certain as the authorship. There is eyerj j>rimd-facie probabil- 
ity that they emanated from Eome, and the rule cui lono points 
unmistakably to the chancery of the Papal Curia as the locus in 



* •* Ahi, Constantin, di quanto mal fu matre, 
Non la tua conversion, ma quella dote 
Che da te prese 11 primo ricco patre !" 

Dante, Inferno, canto xix., vs. 115-113. 

" Ah, Constantine ! Of how mnch ill was mother, 
Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower 
Which the first wealthy Father took from thee !'* 



210 Appendix. 



quo of their composition. Still, tlie point is disputed, but it is 
unquestionable that from the time of Pope Nicholas I. to that 
of Alexander YI. they were accepted by every occupant of the 
Romish See, and formed the real basis of the pretensions of 
Rome to ecclesiastical and temporal sovereignty. 

To use the language of Milman, " Latin Christianity," book 
v., ch. iv. : ^' The ' False Decretals ^ do not merely assert the su- 
premacy of the popes — the dignity and privileges of the Bishop 
of Rome — they comprehend the whole dogmatic system and 
discipline of the Church, the whole hierarchy from the highest 
to the lowest degree, their sanctity and immunities, their perse- 
cutions, their disputes, their right of appeal to Rome. They 
are full and minute on Church property, on its usurpation and 
spoliation ; on ordinations, on the sacraments, on baptism, con- 
firmation, marriage, the eucharist ; on fasts and festivals ; the 
discovery of the cross, the discovery of the reliques of the apos- 
tles ; on the chrism, holy water, consecration of churches, bless- 
ing of the fruits of the field, on the sacred vessels and habili- 
ments." Take these away, and what is left of the characteristic 
and peculiar features or exclusive claims of the Romish Church ? 

The Decretals constitute the foundation of the claims of Rome 
to temporal and ecclesiastical supremacy, of most of her dogmas 
and all her discipline. In short, whatever is distinctive in her 
faith and practice is traceable directly to what Rome herself 
has been forced to acknowledge to be a magazine of lies. ^^ They 
are now," says Milman, ^^ given up by all; not a voice is raised 
in their favor ; the utmost that is done by those who can not 
suppress all regret at their explosion is to palliate the guilt of 
the forger, to call in question or to weaken the influence which 
they had in their own day and throughout the later history of 
Christianity." 

The period during which these forgeries were universally be- 
lieved to be both genuine and for the most part of divine au- 
thority, embraces the reigns of the great pontifical organizers 
of the Romish Church, as the supreme head of ecclesiastical and 
temporal power ; Nicholas I., Sergius II., Gregory YII., Alexan- 
der III., Innocent III., Gregory IX. ; in short, nearly the whole 
of what is known as the second, or strictly mediaeval, era of the 
Catholic Church. It is to this era, and to the "False Decretals " 



Ap2:>endix, 211 



"which, during those many centuries, Avere constantly appealed 
to as the highest of sanctions, that most of the worst abuses 
of the Church belong; and it is certain that Rome by means 
of them became what she is, and acquired that "possession" 
of her usurpations which, according to the proverb, constitutes 
nine points of the law. Rome, it is true," does not now directly 
quote the " False Decretals " as evidences of her title, but she 
constantly cites them at second-hand as irrefragable proofs and 
authorities, in pontifical decrees which have no other founda- 
tion. 

The denunciation of this atrocious forgery by "Wycliffe and 
his followers by no means checked the career of Romish falsi- 
fication. Forged conveyances and testaments appropriating 
lands to what were called *^ pious uses" — in other words, to the 
benefit of the priesthood — were so frequent that it is hardly ex- 
travagant to say that a mediaeval deed or will of this character 
is, as a general rule, presumptively spurious. The manufactur- 
ing of false writings was by no means confined to legal instru- 
ments ; but, after the revival of learning, it extended into the 
domain of literature. Kot only were classic authors pervert- 
ed and corrupted in the monastic copies, but whole works were 
composed in the names of ancient writers, and some of those 
long maintained currency as genuine productions of ancient 
Greece and Rome. The detection of the forgeries of Annius of 
Viterbo and other counterfeiters produced, for a time, a gener- 
al panic among the devotees of ancient learning, and the feel- 
ing of distrust in regard to old manuscripts went so far, that 
some able critics even maintained that the whole body of ex- 
tant Greek and Roman literature was but a product of the in- 
genuity and leisure of mediaeval cloisters. The learned Lipsius, 
though too good a Catholic to charge such frauds upon holy 
men who had retired from the wicked world to the sacred se- 
clusion of conventual life, argued in the sixteenth century, in 
an essay now little known, that the " Commentaries " of Caesar 
were not the work of the great Roman, but of a counterfeiter 
as ignorant as he was impudent. 

One of the most signal instances of ecclesiastical forgery is 
that of the bull establishing the Inquisition in Portugal. A 
saintly and zealous priest, to save himself the trouble of a jour- 



212 Appendix. 



ney to Kome to obtain the necessary authorization to worry 
the obstinate Moorish, Jewish, and Albigensian heretics of that 
kingdom, drew up a papal bull nominatiug him Grand Inquis- 
itor of Portugal, with full power to arrest, imprison, torture, 
and burn guilty or suspected persons, and entered at once, with 
a sufficient staff, upon the discharge of his sacred functions. 
When he was in the full tide of successful experiment, and had 
already celebrated several joyous autos-da-fe, in which he had 
immolated many unbelieving men, women, and children, a pi- 
ous confrere, jealous of the success of his excellent brother, re- 
ported his proceedings to the papacy, to which, of course, the 
bull was known to be spurious. But though ^^Rome never 
authorizes, she sometimes pardons invasion of her exclusive 
rights," and as the self-constituted Grand Inquisitor had shown 
himself as merciless and as energetic a persecutor as Torquema- 
da or De Arbues, it was thought prudent not to convert so pi- 
ous an act into a scandal to the Church, and accordingly the 
counterfeit bull was confirmed, and the zeal of the iugenious 
inventor was rewarded and inflamed by the bestowal of new 
powers and new honors. 

The principles of what is called " diplomatic " criticism were 
first investigated in the scholastic establishment of the Broth- 
ers of Common Life — of whom we shall give some account in a 
following page — and we are not aware that any forgeries are 
chargeable to the members of this order, which, though at last 
sanctioned by the papacy, was never regarded with favor by 
the Holy See. If modern scholarship is provided with a sound 
paleographical code, and with safe tests by which to try the 
genuineness of ancient writings, it is indebted for this advan- 
tage much more to the patient labors of the humble Fratres Com- 
munis Vitce than to the papal chancery, which has exhibited far 
greater zeal in defending than in exposing forgeries, however 
palpable. 



Appendix. 213 



II. 

OPINION IN CATHOLIC COUNTRIES ON RELATIONS BETWEEN 
CHURCH AND STATE. 

The extent to which Catholicism is interwoven with the 
political institutions, the social system, and the daily life of the 
French, Spanish, and Italian peoples has not always been duly 
considered in speculations on the possibility of weaning these 
nations from their adherence to the Eomish Church. At the 
close of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century, 
indeed — when the old Eoman empire appeared to have vanished 
altogether; when the corruptions of the Church had brought 
the papacy into almost universal discredit ; when France, Spain, 
and Italy had no longer any great interests in common; and 
when the latter country had not yet begun seriously to hope for 
the restoration of the national unity — there was a strong tend- 
ency in the intelligent classes to the abandonment of the tradi- 
tional religion of Rome, and the adoption of a faith drawn from 
purer sources. Each of those countries had its reformers, sym- 
pathizing more or less with Luther ; and there is abundant rea- 
son to believe that but for the intervention of the civil power 
they would all have, in a great degree, emancipated themselves 
from the moral and spiritual tyranny of Rome. The triumphs 
of Charles V. not only restored the ascendency of the Romish 
See, but by bringing into subjection to a single sceptre a vast 
proportion of the territory of old Rome, and more than compen- 
sating the loss of the remainder by the possession of the Indies, 
they revived the fading memories of the dominion of the Csesars, 
and encouraged dreams of the revival of a universal empire. 
The papacy had, from an early period, claimed to be the legiti- 
mate successor and representative of the emperors of the West ; 
and this pretension, though not formally recognized, has not 
been thoroughly and radically repudiated by any of the Latin 
races. The pope claimed to reign through the territorial sov- 
ereigns. They were to receive investiture from his hands : they 
were accountable to him for the exercise of powers derived from 
him, and liable to deposition by him for abuse of those powers. 



214 Appendix. 



It was this political superstition which led Napoleon I. to de- 
sire the imposition of his crown by the hands of a pope ; and Na- 
poleon III. was animated by this feeling in his visionary plans 
for consolidating the " Latin peoples " into a sort of confedera- 
tion of sovereignties, of which he was to be the temporal, and 
the pope the spiritual, head. The expedition to Mexico was 
avowedly a part of this insane scheme, which embraced also the 
overthrow of the American Republic ; and this exj^lains in part 
the persistent hostility of Rome to the Federal Government — 
a fact admitted and lamented by Montalembert — during the 
whole of our late civil war. 

The liberalists in all the countries of Southern Europe are 
theoretically in favor of severing all connection between Church 
and State; but when they come to the practical division of rights 
and duties between the two, unforeseen difficulties present 
themselves. First, there is tbe inborn and inbred conviction, 
or at least vague sentiment, that a state church, or national or- 
ganized spiritual power, is a necessary part of the machinery of 
civil government. When you enter into questions of detail on 
this subject with a Frenchman, an Italian, or a Spaniard, who 
may have personally repudiated all allegiance to Rome, you do 
not get far before your interlocutor meets you with the query, 
But what are we to do with the papacy ? In a conversation of 
this sort with one of the most eminent European scientists, the 
writer replied to this inquiry, Deprive it of all legal power, sub- 
ject it to the general law of the land, and let it alone. "Well," 
said he, " I see that that is the logical result of my own princi- 
ples; but I can not overcome the prejudices of my education, 
which prompt me to sustain a church in which I do not believe." 
The idea of a political state is complex, and the notion of the 
Church as an element in the State is too firmly rooted in the Eu- 
ropean mind to be easily eradicated. There are thousands of 
intelligent statesmen everywhere in the Old World who utterly 
reject the papacy as a moral or spiritual guide for themselves, 
but to whom a proposal to deprive it of its usurped privileges 
and possessions, and to reduce it to the level of a private corpo- 
ration, is as startling as a suggestion for the amendment of the 
British Constitution by abolishing the judiciary system, and 
leaving the citizens to settle their legal controversies between 



Appendix. 215 



themselves, would be to an Englishman. The Spaniard may- 
see plainly that the Church is an embarrassing institution, which 
interferes very seriously with the proper action of the organs 
of civil government, but still he can not get rid of the impres- 
sion that, after all, the superfluous fifth wheel to the coach is 
connected with the normal four by some sort of obscure cog- 
greasing, the removal of which might derange the whole ma- 
chine. For this reason, and for the supposed solidarity between 
the interests of the Church and those of the aristocracy, to 
which we have alluded in the text, there is in all Catholic 
countries a wide-spread feeling that a moral Mezentian neces- 
sity has indissolubly united the breathing and palpitating body 
of the living nation to the dead corpse of the Church, and that 
Eome and the Latin races must stand or fall together. This 
sentiment is in a great degree the inspiring element in Giober- 
ti's speculations on the Primato W Italia, It floated hazily and 
confusedly in the mind of the first Napoleon, when he said, 
" The Mediterranean is a French lake." One of the greatest 
blessings which could befall these races would be the laying of 
these ghosts of the Caesars which spoolc in the national brain of 
the whole of them. Even Protestant Latins are not wholly 
free frorn this superstition. Guizot cherished it in his dotage, 
and in 1861 he wrote a pamphlet in defense of the temporal 
power of the papacy. With Catholics it is almost universal. 
A Catholic politician may himself shun the church as a pest- 
house, and even encourage his sons to share in his skepticism ; 
but he commits his daughters to clerical instructors, and is not 
content nnless his wife keeps on good terms with her confessor. 
When the dogma of the personal infallibility of the pope was 
Tinder discussion in the Ecumenical Council, and most liberal 
Romanists hoped for its defeat, a well-known protesting Cath- 
olic predicted the triumph of the measure, and added that his 
co-religionists were mistaken in supposing that the adoption of 
the dogma would practically weaken the papacy. On the con- 
trary, he argued that the defiant boldness of the council in obey- 
ing the consigne of its Jesuit leaders would overawe opposition, 
both within the Church and without it ; that the civil govern- 
ments in the Latin countries would not have the moral cour- 
age to resist this aggression on the liberties of their peoples ; 



216 Appendix. 



that the adoption of the dogma would give a unity and concen- 
tration to the government of the Church which would redouble 
its energy, and render it practically irresistible. In all contests, 
he said, the assailant has the advantage of the momentum of a 
movement of attack, as well as of the fear inspired by the con- 
fidence displayed in the attitude of the aggressor. Eome will 
abandon her defensive position, march out from behind the in- 
trenchments, and make a desperate and probably successful ef- 
fort to storm the camp of the enemy. 

Thus far these predictions have been at least partially veri- 
fied. Governments have paltered with the insolent encroach- 
ments of the papacy on their proper prerogatives, and tamely 
submitted to attempts to corrupt the loyalty of their citizens, 
and even of their soldiery, which in a moral, if not in a strict- 
ly technical, sense amount to treason ; weak men have trembled 
before the arrogance of a power which proclaims itself supreme 
over the God-given faculties of reason and conscience ; and thus 
far the advancing march of Eome to universal conquest has 
been nowhere, except in the German states, formally resisted. 

Time will show, we trust, that this blare of trumpets, though 
full of sound and fury, signifies nothing. An open attack, how- 
ever audacious, or even appalling in its display of force, often 
proves less dangerous than the insidious advance of a concealed 
foe. It is only slaves who quail at the threat of scourges and 
shackles ; and the nations which shook off the papal yoke when 
Eome was sustained by all the power of a Charles the Fifth 
will not resume it at the bidding of a council. 



III. 

THE BROTHERS OF COMMON LIFE. 

The fraternity entitled the Brothers of Common Life was es- 
tablished and organized by Gerhard Groot, a religious and ed- 
ucational reformer of the fourteenth century, and it continued 
to exist, in a modified form, until the invention of printing 
superseded its literary labors, and the spread of the Reforma- 



Appendix. 217 



tion dissolved most of the religious houses of Northern Europe. 
Groot was a native of Deventer, hut was educated at the Uui- 
versity of Paris. After completing his course of study at that 
famous seminary, he engaged in instruction in the higher 
branches of knowledge, and acquired great reputation as a lect- 
urer on metaphysics and theology. 

After some years spent in academic teaching he was ordained 
a deacon, and devoted himself to popular preaching, not occu- 
pjing himself with theological discussion or definition of dog- 
ma, hut directing all his efforts to the reformation of the lives 
of the clergy and the laity, who vied with each other in impie- 
ty and profligacy. The death of his father having left him in 
affluent circumstances, he resolved to devote his means to the 
cause of instruction, and he collected at his own house a num- 
ber of scribes whom he employed in copying Bibles, works of 
the fathers of the Church, and other religious books, some of 
which he translated himself, from Latin into Dutch, for the 
copyists. The sphere of activity of the fraternity was enlarged, 
and its members adopted the rule of living neither upon the 
liberality of Groot nor upon charity, as was then common 
among the monastic orders, but upon the proceeds of their own 
labor in writing and in giving instruction in schools, of which 
they founded a large number. The adoption of the principle 
that the members should earn their own bread excited the hos- 
tility of the mendicant friars, as Groot had foreseen, and the 
Brothers of Common Life underwent a long persecution from 
these orders, but finally succeeded in obtaining the papal rec- 
ognition. Thus far the Brothers were under no vow, but later 
they became organized in regular monasteries, retaining, howev- 
er, the cardinal principles of their original organization. Their 
houses were numerous in Holland, Germany, and France, and 
they rendered important services to literature by their tran- 
scriptions of religious and of secular manuscripts, by their crit- 
ical labors in the establishment of correct texts, and by their 
schools, in which many of the ablest scholars and theologians 
of the Eeformatory period — among others, Erasmus and Thom- 
as a Kempis — were trained. 

The teachings of the " Imitatio Christi " are believed by those 
who ascribe that celebrated work to Thomas h Kempis to be 

10. 



218 Apjyendix. 



the expression of the doctrines of the Brothers of Common Life, 
and to have been imbibed by him in their schools. But, in gen- 
eral, the views of the Brothers seem to have been of a less sub- 
jective and quietistic tendency than those of the author of the 
"Imitatio;" and it is not, perhaps, out of place to remark here 
that the conclusions as to the authorship of the treatise in ques- 
tion, which have generally prevailed since the publication of 
Monseigneur Malon's essay on the subject, have been contested 
with much learning and ability by Carlo Dionisotti, in a memoir 
in his " Notizie Biografiche dei Vercellesi lUustri," Turin, 1862. 
Dionisotti claims the "Imitatio Christi" as the production of 
neither a Kempis nor of John Gerson, Chancellor of the Univer- 
sity of Paris, a member of the Council of Constance, to whom 
many have ascribed it, but of John Gersen, a Yercellese of the 
fourteenth century. If Dionisotti has not conclusively estab- 
lished this theory, he has at least refuted the arguments of 
Monseigneur Malon against it, and the question must be re- 
garded as still suhjudice. 



IV. 

THE INQUISITION AT EO^ME. 

Keller, in " L'Encyclique du 8 D^cembre, 1864, et les Prin- 
cipes de 1789," in speaking of the mildness of the Inquisition, 
says: " Ses biichers n'ont jamais fum6 a Rome" — its piles have 
never smoked at Eome ; and defenders of the Romish Church 
in both England and the United States have publicly declared 
that no instance has ever occurred of the infliction of the pun- 
ishment of death through the agency of the Inquisition at Rome. 

These sweeping statements are so notoriously false, that it is 
surprising that their authors should have presumed so far upon 
the ignorance and credulity of the public as to make them. 
The case of Giordano Bruno alone, which is as familiarly known 
to the students of Romish Church history as the martyrdom of 
John Rogers to those of the religious persecutions in England, 
ought to have deterred the apologists of the Inquisition from 
making an assertion so easily refuted. 



Api^endix. 219 



Before the tMrteentli century, the functions of the Inquisition 
were discharged by the bishops in their respective dioceses, and 
it is doubtful whether the Inquisition had any organization as 
a distinct institution at an earlier period. In 1238, Gregory IX. 
instructed the Provincial of the Order of Preachers in Lombar- 
dy to appoint special ecclesiastical officers charged regularly, 
and, as it seems, exclusively, with the functions of the Inquisi- 
torial office. Eegular inquisitions were soon after established 
throughout Catholic Europe, and the Holy Office at Kome was 
organized as early as the fourteenth century. It is true that, 
for reasons of policy, the papacy denied itself the luxury of gen- 
eral autos-da-fe at Rome itself 5 but the dungeons of the Inquisi- 
tion at that city were frequently crowded with prisoners, who, 
as there is reason to believe, were often secretly dispatched by 
starvation, or by prolonged torture or other violence. The sta- 
tistics of the Eoman Inquisition were never accessible to the 
public ; and all the compromising records of that institution, 
together with mauy other dangerous papers, were burned just 
before the entrance of the royal troops into Eome, on the 20th 
of September, 1870. 

In various works, and among others, in a life of Garibaldi, 
published in 1849-50, it is asserted, upon what appears to be 
good authority, that after the hegira of Pius IX., the repub- 
licans found in the prisons of the Eoman Inquisition a great 
number of human skeletons, which could have been no other 
than those of victims of that tribunal. We shall not, however, 
insist upon these statements, because we have not the means of 
verifying them. It would lead us too far from our present im- 
mediate purpose to go into an examination of the administra- 
tion of the Holy Office at Eome, and, without referring to re- 
searches the results of which might be disputed, we will con- 
tent ourselves with citing a very few well-known and undeni- 
able instances, from which our readers may judge of the good 
faith of those who palliate or deny the atrocities with which 
the Inquisition is charged. 

Arnold of Brescia was an eminent reformer, who made him- 
self particularly odious in the twelfth century by preaching 
against the vices of the clergy and the temporal power of the 
Church. In the time of Adrian IV. the partisans of the tem- 



220 Appendix. 



pora] power drove Arnold from the city, but lie was soon after 
arrested in the Neapolitan territory, at the personal request of 
the pope, brought to Eome, tried, condemned, and strangled ; 
his body was publicly burned, and his ashes thrown into the 
Tiber. It may be said that this is not shown to be a technical 
case of condemnation and punishment by the Inquisition, be- 
cause it is not certain that the Inquisition had yet been formal- 
ly organized ; but the arrest was made at the instance of the 
pope, the trial and condemnation were by the ecclesiastical 
functionaries who officiated as Inquisitors in other cases, and 
in all but possibly in name it was an instance of Inquisitorial 
action. 

Early in the fifteenth century, B. degli Ordelafifi, Merenda, 
and Matteo di Frosinone were arrested upon a charge of here- 
sy. Ordelaffi escaped by bribing his jailers, and was condemned 
in contumaciam. His less fortunate companions, Merenda and 
Matteo, were brought before the Inquisition at Eome, tried as 
heretics, and sentenced to be burned at the stake. The sentence 
was executed at Rome, and the houses of the heretics were lev- 
eled with the ground. In the sixteenth century permission was 
given to reoccupy the vacant site, and houses were built upon it 
which were inhabited by Michael Angelo and Salvator Rosa. 

The case of Aonio Paleario is scarcely less notorious than 
that of Giordano Bruno. Paleario wrote several anti- Romish 
theological works, and is the probable author of a treatise more 
celebrated than any of his positively known writings. This is 
the " De Beneficio Christi Mortis,^' or the Benefits of the Death 
of Christ, which had an immense circulation, and, though it did 
not directly attack the Church, was most damaging to her 
pretensions by its advocacy of the doctrine of justification by 
faith instead of by works, that is, by performing the penances 
imposed by the priest, which were among the most productive 
sources of gain to the Church. Paleario was arrested in Tus- 
cany, by order of Pius V., and brought to Rome. He was tried 
before the Inquisition and charged with having countenanced 
some of the doctrines of Luther, and with having said that the 
Inquisition was a weapon against free discussion of religious 
questions. He was condemned, and hanged at Rome on the 3d 
of July, 1570, and his body was publicly burned. 



Appendix. 221 



Equally indisputable, and even more celebrated, is tlie case 
of the famous Giordano Bruno, a Neapolitan philosopher, born 
not far from 1550, to which we have already alluded. He enter- 
ed the Dominican order, but abandoned the monastic habit, and 
passed several years in Frauce, England, and Germany, in all 
of which countries he acquired immense renown as a lecturer 
and philosophical writer. His views were much the same as 
those of Spinosa ; and, though he did not engage in controversial 
attack upon Eome, his opinions were heretical. Returning to 
Italy, he was arrested by the Inquisition at Venice in 1598, sent 
to Home, confined two years in prison, and upon his refusal to 
recant, condemned by the Inquisition to be burned at the stake, 
which sentence was executed in Rome on the 17th of February, 
A.D. 1600. 

^^ Banks and his horse" are often mentioned by English 
writers of the Shakspearian age. Banks was a professional 
horse-tamer, the Rarey of his time, who had taught a horse to 
dance and perform various other tricks. He exhibited his ani- 
mal with success in many cities on the Continent, and at last 
unluckily ventured to Rome, where he hoped to fill his pockets 
by diverting the pope and his court. But Banks was an En- 
glishman and, presumably, a heretic. There could be no doubt, 
therefore, that the horse was a devil incarnated in the form of 
a quadruped, and horse and man were brought before the Inqui- 
sition, condemned on a charge of sorcery, and burned alive to- 
gether. 

These cases, were others wanting, would be sufficient to show 
that the pretense that the Inquisition never took life at Rome 
is without foundation. 

Of course, in a city filled with priests and priestly spies, and 
where almost every citizen was directly or indirectly a pension- 
er of the papacy, heresy would not often be publicly professed, 
and the occasions for the intervention of the Inquisition, to pun- 
ish and suppress it, would be less frequent than in strictly secu- 
lar communities inhabited by multitudes of lay citizens, difi*er- 
iug widely from each other in habits, education, and associations. 
It is, therefore, not strange that among the Jewish and Moorish 
population of Spanish and Portuguese towns there should be 
found a larger number of unbelievers than in clerical Rome. 



222 Appendix. 



The pretended mildness of the Inquisition in the Roman State 
is a pure fiction ; and there is no doubt that the proceedings of 
the Holy Office at Rome, though conducted perhaps with more 
secrecy and less ostentation of inhumanity, were as cruel and 
as unchristian as those of the sister tribunals in Spain. 

The notorious "Directorium luquisitorum,'^ or "Inquisitori- 
al Manual," of Eymeric was designed and employed as a guide 
and an authority to all Inquisitorial tribunals, whether exercis- 
ing these functions at Rome or elsewhere. The edition of 1578, 
as appears from the preface, was prepared at the express in- 
stance of the Directors of the General Inquisition at Rome, and 
printed at the public press, in cedihus populi Bomani, in that city, 
under a privilege from Pope Gregory XIII., who permitted this 
sad monument of wicked bigotry and sanguinary fanaticism to 
be dedicated to himself. 

No Inquisition acted under any authority but that of the 
papacy. Its first officers were appointed, its earliest tribunals 
organized, its jurisdiction defined, its modes of procedure and 
the punishments it was empowered to inflict determined, by 
the Holy See. The condemnations for heresy almost uniformly 
charged the accused with the denial of Romish supremacy as 
the greatest of his crimes. The chief office of the Inquisition 
everywhere was, not the promotion of a pure and holy life, but 
the maintenance of the powers and prerogatives usurped by the 
papacy. It was an agent of the papacy, which was, and, not 
having repudiated its atrocities, still is, morally responsible for 
all its crimes against God and man. 

We are told that the Inquisition now nowhere exists except 
in the form of an office for the censure of books. But why does 
it not exist ? Simply because, with all its short-comings, civil 
society in Catholic countries has become, in spite of the resist- 
ance of Rome, too enlightened and too humanized to tolerate 
this nefarious instrument of papal ambition and papal hate 
against religious light and liberty. Had Rome the power, the 
Holy Office would at once resume its functions over the whole 
civilized world. The rules which the papacy prescribed for it, 
the jurisdiction the popes conferred upon it centuries ago, are 
still in force, unrepealed, unmodified by the unchangeable, irre- 
formable Church. The Encyclical of 1864 condemns as a damna- 



Appendix. 223 



ble error the doctrine that the Church has not the right to resort 
to force in the maintenance of what she claims as her rights ; 
and none who have watched the recent history of Rome can 
doubt that she woukl use force against every material and ev- 
ery moral resistance to her aggressions, if her ancient moral and 
physical power were restored to her. 

The tone of the papal briefs respecting the suppression of 
heresy by the Inquisition and by other measures shows clearly 
that, so far from admitting that any of her powers were sub- 
servient to the uses of the State, the Church always claimed 
and exercised authority to dictate civil legislation against her- 
etics, and to compel the lay authorities to enforce the penalties 
prescribed by such legislation or by the Church. 

Thus Innocent lY., in a brief of the year 1252 addressed to 
the Provincial and Inquisitors of Lombardy and the adjacent 
provinces, after reciting that it was considered that enlarged 
powers and jurisdiction would make their ministry more fruit- 
ful, proceeds to instruct them to require all municipal bodies, 
of whatever designation, in those provinces, to incorporate into 
their jurisprudence all the decrees of the papacy and other ec- 
clesiastical and secular ordinances against heretics, their pro- 
tectors, and associates, and strictly to observe and enforce them, 
upon pain of ecclesiastical censure, without appeal. In sup- 
port of this brief, the pope issued another of the same date ad- 
dressed to the municipalities and other civil authorities of the 
above-mentioned provinces, referring to the former brief, and 
repeating the same injunctions on pain of ecclesiastical cen- 
sures. 

Not content with these general instructions, His Holiness, ap- 
parently on the same day, issued a much fuller brief, addressed 
to the same municipalities and other civil authorities, setting 
forth, at great length, certain constitutions for the suppression 
of heresy, which the municipalities were to accept and record 
as a part of their own legislative codes, and adding that the 
provincial and Inquisitors had been commanded, in case of fail- 
ure to accept and enforce these constitutions by the civil au- 
thorities, to proceed against such authorities by personal ex- 
communication, and interdict against those territories, without 
appeal. 



224 Appendix. 



The constitutions require every chief civil officer to swear 
that he would observe and enforce all ordinances, civil and ec- 
clesiastical, against heretics, and declares that all such civil of- 
ficers as may refuse to take this oath, ^' pjv potestatihiis vel rectori- 
hus niillatenus hdbeantur, et quce, ut ])otestates vel rectores fecerintj 
nallam jpenitut hdbeant firmi talem^^ — shall be holden to be au- 
thorities and rulers no longer; and whatever they may do in 
the capacity of authorities and rulers shall be wholly without 
validity. The civil authorities are to pronounce a decree of 
banishment against all heretics, of whatever age or sex, and 
any person may seize and retain as his own the goods and ef- 
fects of any heretic. All houses in w^hich heretics have been 
found are to be destroyed, and the property contained in them 
confiscated. The constitutions contain about thirty other pro- 
visions on the subject of proceedings against heresy. 

The same pontiff issued, in 1254, a brief addressed to the same 
provincial and Inquisitors, by which a crusade against heretics 
is ordered to be preached, and the ecclesiastics are directed to 
confer upon all who will take it upon themselves to aid in ex- 
tirpating heresy the sign of the cross, with all the indulgences 
and privileges granted to crusaders to the Holy Land. Another 
general brief of Innocent lY., addressed, in 1254, to all the faith- 
ful in Christ, renews the condemnation of heretics, and pre- 
scribes additional penalties against them and their patrons or 
defenders ; and the preaching of a crusade against them is again 
ordered, with many additional privileges to the crusaders, by a 
second brief issued at Anagni in the same year. 

We do not find in these briefs, or, indeed, in any pontifical 
declarations, any evidence of the pretended subserviency of the 
Inquisition to political supremacy. On the contrary, all civil 
authorities are held subject to the orders of the Inquisition. 
Some of the briefs above cited, as well as other early pontifical 
w^ritings of similar character, refer to the laws of the Emperor 
Frederick against heretics, and enjoin the strict observance of 
them. These laws were promulgated by the emperor as a con- 
cession to the papacy to which they were in some sort necessa- 
ry, because the Inquisition had not yet been formally organized. 
But after this tribunal had been generally established as a spe- 
cial jurisdiction, the Church required the sanction of civil law 



Appendix. 225 



no longer, and issued its decrees directly to the Inquisitors as 
its own peculiar functionaries. 

At this day, when ^^ ecclesiastical censures'^ not only are gen- 
erally without legal validity, but are resorted to only as a 
means of constraint upon individuals, and have become wholly 
obsolete as a weapon against the civil power, the threat of such 
censures does not seem very formidable. But in the thirteenth 
century, the ecclesiastical censures, which prelates and other 
ofiicers of the Church were authorized to inflict by the briefs 
above quoted, included the power of laying an interdict on both 
places and persons recusant ; and, in fact, one of the briefs we 
have cited expressly menaces the disobedient with the imposi- 
tion of an interdict. Since the Reformation, no pope has dared 
to impose any thing beyond a personal interdict on any Catho- 
lic state, except in the case of Venice, which Pope Paul V. thus 
laid under the ban of the Church in 1606. There were also in- 
terdicts against England after her emancipation from the papal 
yoke, but this pretended exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction 
over a country which had renounced allegiance to the papacy 
w^as but hrutum fulmen, or, as we say, thunder without the bolt. 

So long as the power of the Church was sustained by the ig- 
norance and superstition of the Middle Ages, the interdict was 
the most terrible of the weapons wielded by the Eomish clergy. 
An interdicted person was an outlaw; none might give him 
fire or clothing, food or water. If the interdict was local, the 
churches were closed ; no bells could be rung ; religious serv- 
ices, if allowed at all, could be performed only in secret ; the 
crosses and decorations of religious edifices were veiled or hid- 
den ; Lenten food only could be taken ; the mother could not 
even give a kiss to her babe. Interdicts were enforced wdth 
various degrees of severity, and were sometimes, like the gen- 
eral excommunications and anathemas which the present pope 
scatters with so liberal a hand, little more than nominal. The 
papacy has never renounced the right of imposing them. 

But though interdicts have long been disused, traditional 
popular superstition still regards them with great dread in 
many Catholic countries. During the French occupation of 
Naples near the close of the last century, a French general em- 
ployed the interdict as a weapon against brigandage. It is true 

10^ 



226 Appendix. 



it would have been well understood in an enlightened nation 
that such means of coercion were not within the power of a 
general ; but the very threat of an interdict by a French officer 
produced the speedy submission of a large district in Calabria. 
The people understood that the bells would be silent and the 
churches closed; that the priests would perform no religious 
functions, not even baptism, absolution for the dying, or the 
office for the dead; in short, that they could neither be born, 
married, nor buried, except under a curse. They did not stop 
to inquire into the authority of the general, but they knew that 
if he had not the right, he had at least the material power to 
prevent the priests from performing their usual functions, and 
they were glad to purchase the restoration of these important 
privileges by accepting the terms dictated by their foreign op- 
pressor. 



V. 

PAPAL APPROVAL OF CONDEMNATION OF HUSS. 

The formal approval of the condemnation of Huss and Je- 
rome of Prague, with the denunciation of the heresies of Wyc- 
liffe, was among the most important official acts of the first 
year of the pontificate of Martin V. It was promulgated at 
Constance while the Council was yet in session, in the month 
of March following the election of the pope. It fills ten large 
and closely printed folio pages, and is principally occupied with 
exhortations to Inquisitors and other ministers of the Church 
to be zealous in the extirpation of heresy, and in directions as 
to the modus procedendi in the examination and trial of persons 
suspected of that crime. 

The enumeration of the errors of Wycliffe consists of five 
articles, some of which are pure calumnies against his teach- 
ings, and were probably not really believed to have been ever 
held by him, either by Pope Martin or by the members of the 
Council, to all of whom the writings of Wyclifie were better 
known than they are to the theologians of the present day. 
The errors most obnoxious to the Rome of that day are the de- 



Appendix. 227 



nial of the doctrine of the real presence, in the Catholic sense ; 
the propositions that if a sinner is dnly contrite, auricular con- 
fession is unnecessary ; that an ecclesiastic in mortal sin can 
not lawfully exercise his office ; that a pope profligate in char- 
acter has no authority except as derived from the emperor ; that 
the civil authority may sequester the property of a church 
administered by wicked men 5 that the people may hold their 
rulers accountable for abuse of power; that friars ought to 
earn their bread by their own labors, not by begging — the first 
clause of which proposition is denounced as scandalous and 
presumptuous, the last as erroneous; that the Decretals are 
apocryphal, and tend to wean from faith in Christ, and that the 
study of them by the clergy is folly ; and that a belief in the 
supremacy of the Eomish Church is not necessary to salvation. 
The concluding charge is that Wycliffe taught that all relig- 
ions were inventions of the devil. 

The errors of which Huss was convicted are thirty, most of 
them relating to the supremacy of the Eomish Church and the 
authority of the papacy. Many a member of the late Ecumen- 
ical Council, in opposing the definition of the dogma of infalli- 
bility, took as strong ground against the pretensions of the pa- 
pacy as Huss seems to have done, and not a few Catholic theo- 
logians now hold that the condemnation, not to speak of the 
sentence, of Huss was not sustained by the proofs against him. 



VI. 

PAPAL REMONSTRANCES AGAINST THE ABOLITION OF THE 
FORUM ECCLESIASTICUM. 

The allocution AcerUssimiim was pronounced in consistory 
on the 27th of September, 1852, in reference to the abolition of 
the Forum Ecclesiasticum in the republic of New Granada. 
It is too long for insertion in this place, but the following is a 
synopsis of its contents. It begins with a complaint that in 
April, 1845, a law was enacted by the Government of that re- 
public providing that when a criminal charge was pending in 



228 Appendix. 



a civil tribunal against an ecclesiastic, of whatever rank, such 
ecclesiastic should suspend the exercise of sacerdotal functions 
until the charge were disposed of. It then proceeds to state 
that the Holy See protested energetically against this law and 
also against the proposed legislative measures of the same Gov- 
ernment — one abolishing tithes without consultation with the 
papacy, the other guaranteeing to all foreigners who should 
emigrate to New Granada the public exercise of their religion 
— and demanded that these laws should not be carried into ef- 
fect jSiJid"utJEcdesia suis omnibus juris ac jplend frueretur libertate^^ 
— that the Church should continue to enjoy all her rights and 
her full liberty. The allocution goes on to recite that the re- 
monstrances of the Holy See had not been heeded, but that New 
Granada had made laws against the religious orders, and con- 
firmed the expulsion of the Jesuits, " a religious family which, 
after being long desired and finally invited to establish iiself 
in that country, had been of such great utility in regard to both 
social and Catholic interests." The republic had even gone so 
far as to forbid the establishment within its territory of any 
religious order bound by a vow of passive obedience j and had en- 
couraged the abandonment of the monastic profession. Other 
enormities complained of were a legal provision that curates 
should be chosen by the heads of families of the parish, who 
had also power to fix their compensation ; the transfer of the vis- 
itorship of the national college to the lay authorities ; and a new 
constitution guaranteeing the liberty of the press and of public 
worship. Then follows a long Tcyrielle relating to the enforce- 
ment of these wise and just laws by the Government, and, at 
last, a passionate condemnation of the New Granadian Govern- 
ment for regarding marriage as purely a civil contract, and a 
solemn declaration that all marriages concluded otherwise than 
with the forms and sanctions prescribed by the Church are not 
only null, but criminal. 

The allocution Xunquam fore was pronounced in consistory 
on the 15th of December, 1856, on occasion of like abuses by the 
Government of Mexico, and by that of the Swiss Confederation, 
and in tone and temper much resembles the Acerbissimum. 

Besides these allocutions, His Holiness, in justice to himself, 
ought to have cited his consistorial allocution of November 1st; 



Appendix. 229 



1850, and his letter of September 19th, 1852, to the King of Sar- 
dinia, both of which are most objurgatory and most lachrymose, 
qualities, however, in which both are, perhaps, surpassed by the 
apostolical letter of August 22d, 1851, in condemnation of the er- 
rors of John Nepomucene Nuytz. Nuytz was a pestilent heretic, 
professor in the University of Turin, who had written a couple 
of scandalous works, entitled "Institutions de Droit Eccl^sias- 
tique,'' and " Traits de Droit Eccl6siastique Universel." Nuytz 
has the honor of having furnished much matter for reprobation 
in the Encyclical and Syllabus of 1864. ■ 



VII. 

ROMISH OPPOSITION TO THE TRANSLATION OF THE SCRIPTURES 
INTO MODERN LANGUAGES. 

The modern European tongues had no sooner become writ- 
ten languages than the hostility of Rome was aroused against 
the employment of them as a medium of religious instruction. 
Latin, the language of the Church, was at that period but im- 
perfectly known except to persons educated for the priesthood, 
and who might, therefore, be safely intrusted with the use of 
the Scriptures in that tongue. At the beginning of the thir- 
teenth century, French had already become a literary language, 
and Innocent III. thought it expedient to interfere to check the 
use of it for dangerous purposes. About the year 1200, he is- 
sued a brief, addressed to two high French ecclesiastics, setting 
forth that the Bishop of Metz had reported to the Holy See that 
in the diocese and city of that name a certain number of lay- 
men and women, laicorurn at mulierum non immodica multitudo, 
were applying themselves to translating the divine Scripture 
into French, holding secret meetings, and scorning the remon- 
strances of the priests. The Bishop and Chapter of Metz, says 
the brief, had been instructed to inquire who were the authors 
and what the motives of their translation, and whether the 
translators duly reverenced the Apostolic See and Holy Church. 
The bishop had reported that some of those people refused obe- 



280 Appendix. 



dience to the apostolic letters, were going on with the transla- 
tion, continued to hold conventicles, to preach, though not li- 
censed, and, worst of all, publicly to proclaim that God alone 
was to be obeyed by man, ohediendum esse soli Deo, Of course, 
instructions were given for the suppression of the translation 
and the punishment of the offenders. 

The principal danger then, as now, apprehended by Rome 
from translations of the Scriptures was that men who studied 
the word of God would adopt the rule, " Ohediendum esse soli 
Deo " — we are to obey God rather than the pope, which, of all 
heresies, is the most pernicious. 



VIII. 

THE EDICT OF NANTES, AND ITS REVOCATION. 

For a large part of the following sketch we are indebted to 
Lanfrey, " L'figlise et les Philosophes au dix-huitieme Siecle/' 
Paris, 1857. 

The Edict of Nantes, issued by Henry IV. of France, in 1598, 
after his abjuration of Protestantism and his elevation to the 
throne, and declared ^' irrevocable '^ upon the face of it, was ac- 
cepted by the French nation, in spite of the resistance of Rome, 
as a part of the organic law of the kingdom. It restored peace 
and tranquillity to a country desolated by thirty-six years of 
civil war growing chiefly out of religious questions ; and though 
it by no means placed the Protestants on a just and equal foot- 
ing, it was, both in its character and its actual effects, one of 
the most beneficent measures ever adopted by the Government 
and people of that country. 

The Edict of Nantes, drafted, it is said, by Jeannin, Schom- 
berg, Calignon, and the celebrated historian De Thou, permit- 
ted to the Huguenots, or Protestants, the public exercise of their 
worship. It made them eligible to all offices; established in 
each provincial (judicial) parliament a chamber composed of 
magistrates of each religion ; it allowed general conventions of 
persons of the Reformed religion ; it authorized the Reformed 



Appendix. 231 



to lay taxes on members of their own Churcli for its support ; 
it proYided for the payment of their clergy, and gave them the 
possession of four fortified towns, including, as the most im- 
portant. La Rochelle, to which so many English and American 
Protestants look as the old home, or, at least, resting-place, of 
their families, and the seat of the national patriarchate of their 
religion. The Reformed, or Huguenots, remained liable to the 
payment of tithes and the observance of the days of fast and 
feast appointed by the Catholic Church. 

The Edict of Nantes not only restored peace to France, but it 
re-established France in the position she had long enjoyed in 
the great European commonwealth ; it produced the revival, or 
rather the creation, of industrial arts of great economical impor- 
tance, many of which were exercised almost exclusively by the 
Protestants ; and it consequently augmented the commerce and 
contributed immensely to the material prosperity of the king- 
dom. Henry TV. was wise enough to turn these new moral and 
material conditions to as good account as the state of physical 
and political science then permitted, and if his successors had 
been as able, and as seriously devoted to the good of their peo- 
ple as he, the surpassing natural advantages of France would 
have been developed in the course of the seventeenth century 
to a degree which would have placed her far in advance of ev- 
ery other European nation. 

During the early part of the long reign of Louis XIV., France 
was ruled by a regency, and it was not till 1661 that the king 
took into his own hands the government of his vast domain. 
In the mean time, though the stipulations of the Edict of Nantes 
had often been violated by the Catholic Government of the State, 
the aspirations of the Protestants to official power and con- 
sideration in the kingdom had been disappointed ; and every 
measure had been employed to depress and humiliate the social 
position of the Reformed ; yet they had grown in strength and 
in material prosperity. This increased importance had been 
gained rather by the elevation of the lower than by the influ- 
ence of the higher classes, and by the development of industry 
and the general spread of intelligence which everywhere char- 
acterize Protestant in a higher degree than Catholic communi- 
ties. Rome had never ceased to intrigue against the French 



232 A2ypendix. 



Protestants ; and the two cardinals, Kiclielieu and Mazarin, who 
so long governed France, were animated in their policy toward 
the Keformed as much by sectarian hate as by jealousy of the 
rising power of the Protestants, which they affected to consider 
as the abnormal growth of a state within a state. Louis XIV. 
imbibed the prejudices of these ministers, who selected for him 
dexterous confessors, and cunningly brought to bear upon him 
the powerful influeuce of the Society of Jesuits as well as that 
of his mistresses, and they had little difficulty in obtaiuing his 
assent to the initial measures of open warfare against the Prot- 
estants. The final triumph was reserved to their successors. 

As early as 1657, the clergy had already procured the revoca- 
tion of various concessions to the Eeformed. In the quinquen- 
nial Catholic clerical assembly of 1660, the priests complained 
of the erection of new Protestant churches and colleges; of the 
occupation of Catholic cemeteries by the Huguenots ; of their 
proselytism, etc. ; all of which they stigmatized as acts oi force 
and violence against their quiet Catholic fellow-citizens. 

It was usual for the clergy to fix, at these assemblies, a con- 
tribution to be, paid by them to the exchequer of the State, 
•which they treated as a donation, but which was claimed by 
the Government as a tax. The nature and amount of this dona- 
tion or tax were always the subject of disputes which generally 
terminated in some new concession to the clergy, some new in- 
fraction of the liberties which had been solemnly promised to 
the Huguenots. On the occasion we are now considering, the 
chief among the many grievances of the priests was the fre- 
quency of apostasies from the Church, brought about by the ef- 
forts of the Protestants. They demanded a decree forbidding 
the abandonment of Mother Church; the corporal punishment 
of relapsed heretics according to an ordinance of Charles IX. ; 
and the exclusion of Protestants from all public office. " It is 
true," said they, " that by the terms of the Edict of Nantes, the 
king declared that those of the pretended Reformed religion 
might hold public office ; but this privilege is contrary to divine 
law, because it is inconsistent with the dignity {les hienseances) 
of our religion. It violates the civil law, too, as well as the 
canon, which forbids the bestowal of office on the enemies of 
the faith." When the Intendant of Finance appeared before the 



Appendix. 233 



Assembly, according to custom, to demand what he claimed as 
a debt to the State, he met a prompt refusal which was twice 
repeated on a renewal of the demand. The intendant humbled 
himself before the Assembly, and the contribution was prom- 
ised simply as a pure gratification. And gratis ? Oh no ! but 
upon certain conditions, of which no jot or tittle should be 
abated. The Church had suffered such wrongs that the As- 
sembly was dismayed, and could not act dii*ectly on the subject 
till they were repaired. 

The intendant promised signal reparation, and the clergy 
promised the money — ivhen the reparation should have been 
made ; and if not, not. Time passes, and the contribution is 
not forthcoming. The intendant appears for the fourth time, 
with a sachel full of decrees against the heretics. ^^ As a mat- 
ter of principle," said he, " conditions ought not to be imposed 
on the king ; nevertheless, your conditions have not diminished 
his majesty ^s good- will. He gives you generously all you ask 
in anticipation of your donation. The vapors which may have 
arisen in the royal bosom from the warmth of this little discus- 
sion have been condensed into a gentle dew, a shower of de- 
crees and declarations, which his majesty offers you in token 
of his affection.'^ Then he produces from his port-folio thirteen 
edicts in favor of the clergy and against the Protestants. He 
spreads them out on the table, and exclaims, ^^ Now the money, 
if you please!" Not at all. His majesty had rejected certain 
demands which seemed too oppressive. The clergy insist on 
the pound of flesh, and postpone the proposed gratuitous dona- 
tion until these demands shall have been granted, and reduces 
the amount from four millions of livres to one million eight 
hundred thousand, which, upon due satisfaction, it raises to 
two millions. 

At the Assembly of 1665, the intendant appeared again, and 
asked a new donation in a discourse evidently borrowed from a 
romance of the day. ^'Messieurs," said he, "on enteriug this 
hall, I felt, from the lustre of your persons and your purple, an 
effect, as it were, of the rays of the rising Aurora on the Egyp- 
tian statue of her son, which she animated every morning, and 
gave it an impulse which produced a melodious tune from the 
lyre and the loiv in its hands." Fine words, though their rheto- 



234 Appendix. 



ric was a little marred by tlie evident supposition of the in- 
tendant that the lyre of Memnon was a fiddle. Even the touch- 
ing conclusion, "Majesty's coffers are dry and empty," found no 
generous response from the mitred prelates. " Times are hard," 
said the presiding bishop ; " the clergy are poor ; you asked a 
great deal at the last Assembly." In short, you have not car- 
ried out your promises against the heretics. A little later, the 
deputy of the clergy addressed a formal harangue to the king 
in person, thanked him for the " wonderful zeal of his indefati- 
gable defense of the altars, for demolishing the temples and 
suppressing the colleges of the Reformed." "Heresy is at its last 
gasp, great sire," said he, " but it must be crushed altogether. 
Strike the final blow !" etc., etc. He then went on to demand 
the suppression of the Protestant parliamentary chambers (a 
judicial guarantee granted by the Edict), and severe penalties 
against relapses. Banishment did not sufi&ce ,• nothing short of 
the galleys, and now and then a little hanging, drawing, and 
quartering, would answer. The granting of these trifling favors 
was rewarded by a " gratuitous " donation of four million livres. 
Vappetit vient en mangeant, and when, in 1670, our old friend 
the intendant, came again, the sour looks of his most reverend 
audience showed him at once that a stout resistance must be 
encountered, and he framed his action accordingly, on the prin- 
ciple of the song : 

"Oh! how 

Shall I deal with this horrible cow ? 
I will sit on the stile, 
And continue to smile, 

Till I soften the heart of this cow." 

" I confess, messieurs," said he, " that the sight of your august 
Assembly hath confounded me, for I thought that after having 
so many times enjoyed the felicity of appearing before it, and 
contemplatiug its arrangement, the posture and the persons 
which compose it, my eyes, feeble though they be, would not 
be dazed by the gorgeous lustre of yourselves and your purple. 

" But I experience the reverse, and acknowledge that I am 
gifted with naught of that high faculty which enableth the 
eaglet to gaze fixedly on the sun. 

"'The astonishiug brilliancy of so many heavenly bodies 
overpowers me, and would strike me dumb, but that strength 



Appendix. 235 



is infused into me from the aspect of a dominant sun,* wMcli 
comforts my sight and gives me courage to pronounce his orders. 
The dominant sun is our incomparable monarch of France, and 
I may justly apply this title to him as the first luminary, not 
only of France, hut of the universal world, before whose brill- 
iant rays the greatest stars of all other sovereignties pale their 
fires." . 

He concluded with the usual formula, ^^Date oholum Belisa- 

After the shameful decree of 1665, the king had vacillated in 
his policy toward the Huguenots, who were secretly favored by 
the great minister Colbert as the creators of the industrial pros- 
perity of France. 

The clergy reproached the orator with the weakness of his 
master, observed that the public finances were flourishing — an 
improvement which they had not the honesty to ascribe to its 
true authors, the Huguenots — and, therefore, the king could 
have no need of extraordinary aid from the clergy, and con- 
cluded by refusing the subsidy. Louis was irritated, but he 
wanted money. He promised compliance with the desires of 
the clergy, and they in turn resolved, " Since his majesty has 
communicated to the Assembly many very weighty reasons for 
asking extraordinary aid, and among them ^mi^vj icMeli indicate 
great designs for the advantage of religion, for which he has pledged 
Ms royal ivord, we consent to give him two million four hundred 
thousand livres, which his majesty will understand as an effect 
of our entire confidence in his royal word." 

The Assembly then formulated its demands, which were thir- 
ty in number, including the removal of all Huguenot temples 
built near churches, the incorporation of the separate parlia- 
mentary chambers into the general body of the tribunals, for 
which this curious reason is given : " Since the motives for tho 
establishment of these chambers exist no longer, there having 
been, for forty years, complete peace and unison of feeling in the 
people." What an admission of the inoffensive character and 

* Had Goethe read this magniloquent oration when he wrote : 
"/^r Anhlick gieht den Engeln Starke^'' 
(Its sight doth give the angels strength ?) 



236 Appendix. 



coDcTuct of the persecuted Huguenots! The clergy demanded, 
further, that the Huguenots be deprived of the right of taxing 
themselves for religious purposes ; that they be required to con* 
tribute to the support of Catholic churches and schools ; that 
their temples and cemeteries pay the land-tax; that in their 
schools children shall be taught only reading, writing, and arith- 
metic ; that foreign ministers be expelled from France ; that 
Protestant creditors shall not sue their debtors who turn Cath« 
olic for three years; that Catholic curates, accompanied by a 
bailiff, may demand and obtain by force admission to sick Hu- 
guenots. In 1675, the Assembly demanded that Huguenots be 
forbidden to possess cemeteries in hamlets, villages, or towns ; 
that mixed marriages be declared void, and the children of such 
incapable of inheriting; that in cities and villages where there 
may be a town physician, no Huguenot physician be allowed to 
practice. In 1680, the clergy expressed satisfaction that almost 
all they could ask had been granted. In this year the dragon- 
nades were introduced as a means of conversion. The dragon- 
nades consisted in quartering soldiers upon Protestant families, 
and encouraging these rude guests in every form of brutality 
toward their heretic fellow-citizens. It appears from a letter 
of Louvois that in 1685 a company and a half of dragoons were 
quartered on a single family, who were inevitably ruined in a 
week. If the family did not renounce their religion, the men 
were beaten, the women abused, and then dragged to the church 
by the hair ; if they still held out, the dragoons scorched their 
feet and hands by a slow fire. Sometimes they would take turns 
for several days in preventing a Huguenot from sleeping by 
pinching, pricking, and dragging him about, until he would sell 
his religion for a little rest ; and all this the Government and 
fashionable society approved ! ^^ The dragoons make very good 
missionaries," wrote Madame de S^vign^. Madame de Main te- 
non wrote to her brother that in Poitou lands were to be had 
almost gratis on account of the ruin of the heretics, and ad- 
vised him not to let slip so fine an opportunity of acquiring an 
estate cheaply. 

In the Assembly of the clergy in 1685, the president said : 
^^ Let us strive, messieurs, to compel the heretics to render to 
God the worship which is his due, and we shall then enjoy our 



A2y2>e7iclix. 237 



good things in peace. The king has done much for the Church, 
but you will be surprised, messieurs, after what we have ob- 
tained from his justice, that we still have any thing more to 
ask." 

Among the things which it still remained to ask were : That 
it be permitted to the ecclesiastics, in places where there is no 
public worship, to baptize the children of heretics in spite of 
the oiiposition of the parents; that those of the Eeligionbe for- 
bidden to perform any of the functions of an advocate, or of a 
printer or book-seller, all which the king at once granted. 

The Edict of Nantes was now virtually rescinded ; none of 
its guaranties subsisted ; the Huguenot churches were every- 
where demolished ; all the liberal professions were interdicted 
to the heretics ; their schools and academies were closed, their 
judicial representation abolished; their ministers had been 
driven into exile. The Edict of Nantes was but a dead letter, 
but it had not been formally revoked. It still served as a ral- 
lying-point for the Protestants, and as a reproach to their per- 
secutors. It must be canceled, obliterated, annihilated. This 
the clergy demanded at the Assembly of 1685 ; and at the next 
general assembly after the fulfillment of their behest by the 
king, they voted him an extraordinary aid of twelve millions 
of livres, a truly enormous sum, considering the value of money 
two centuries ago. 

The king, no doubt, was acted on more or less by influences 
outside of the clerical Assembly ; but the successive revocation 
of the privileges conferred by the Edict, and the final abolition 
of even the form of it, were substantially the work of the cler- 
gy, performed at their suggestion, and paid for with money 
which they had wrung from the people. 

A courtier was one day comparing Peter the Great to Louis 
XIY. ^' He was greater than I," said Peter ; " but in one thing 
1 have surpassed him : I have reduced my clergy to submis- 
sion ; he was controlled by his." 

The revocation interdicted the public exercise of the Reform- 
ed religion, but permitted those who professed it to remain in 
the kingdom, ^' without being disturbed on pretext of religion." 
The Marshal de Noailles complained that this clause would pre- 
vent conversion to the true faith. Upon this the minister, Lou- 



238 Appendix. 



Yois, issued a new proclamation revoking even this last vestige 
of religious liberty, and the clergy at once recommenced their 
persecutions. Three hundred thousand, or, according to some 
authorities, eight hundred thousand, men, women, and children, 
fled from France: those who could not escape were reduced to 
choose between the mass and the dungeon ; children were torn 
from their mothers' arms ; the ministers were hanged or sent to 
the galleys ; women were trampled underfoot by the horses of 
the dragoons ; the bodies of those who had fortunately escaped 
torture by death were dragged about on hurdles; the whole 
kingdom was bathed in blood, and covered with ruins. 

These horrors Bossuet approved, and celebrated the revoca- 
tion of the Edict AYith turgid eloquence and the most groveling 
adulation of the tyrant who had perpetrated them. "Let us 
not omit to celebrate this miracle of our time," cried he ; " let 
us hand down the recital of it to future ages. Take your con- 
secrated pens, ye who indite the annals of the Church ; make 
haste to place Louis by the side of the Constan tines and the 
Theodosii." When Legendre and Basville, two ferocious ene- 
mies of the Protestants, laid before Bossuet their plan of exter- 
mination and asked his counsels, the trio differed as to certain 
measures of detail, but in the main were agreed. " He was hap- 
py,'' he said, "to avail himself of their experience.'^ 

r^n^lon, too, whom even Protestants venerate as a saint, 
wrote in 1685, "I find scarcely any Huguenots left at La Ro- 
chelle, since I have paid those who betray them. I imprison 
the men, and, with the consent and by the authority of the bish- 
op, send the women and girls into convents." He asks that the 
military force be strengthened. "It appears to me,'^ adds he, 
" that the exercise of the royal authority ought to be relaxed in 
nothing." At a later period, indeed, when he himself was a 
victim of religious intolerance, and had suffered under the per- 
secution of Quietism, he grew more moderate toward the Hu- 
guenots, though stimulating always measures of rigor against 
Jansenism. Flechier sanctioned the atrocities of the revoca- 
tion. Massillon approved them, as did also Fontenelle and La 
Fontaine ; and even Arnaud said, " These measures are rather 
violent, but not at all unjust." Madame de S^vign6 was en- 
thusiastic in her admiration of this great act of the Grand Mo- 



Appendix. 239 



narque. " There can be nothing finer/^ exclaimed she, " than 
the tenor of the act of revocation. No king ever did, or ever 
will do, any thing *so memorable.'^ 

If we admit that the language and conduct of these distin- 
guished persons, who had their points of greatness and even of 
goodness, are in some degree palliated by the spirit of the age, 
what are we to say of Monseigneur Nardi, so often the mouth- 
piece of Pope Pius IX., who refers to the reign of Louis XIY. as 
the Golden Age of France, and contrasts its glories and its pros- 
perity with the moral and material decay of that nation in 
1875 ! True, France has sinned and suffered; but her transgres- 
sions and her calamities are the natural consequences of her 
submission to the dictation of a church of which Monseigneur 
Nardi himself is one of the chief apostles. 

The consequences of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes 
in the desolation of flourishing provinces, the destruction of a 
vast amount of valuable property, the prostration of productive 
manufactures, the exile or murder of hundreds of thousands of 
peaceable and industrious inhabitants, the rekindling of the 
spirit of hate and ferocity with which the priests had inflamed 
the people in the memorable slaughter of St. Bartholomew's, and 
which still celebrates its centennial saturnalia of violence and 
blood in France, were most disastrous to the material prosper- 
ity and the moral interests of the nation. The revocation of 
the Edict of Nantes was but a revival of the crimes of 1572 ; 
and the horrors of the Ee volution a hundred years later, and of 
the Commune after yet another century, were the legitimate 
fruits of the tiger-like instincts which the odium theologicum of 
Eome had made a part of the nature of the French people. 

The revocation of the Edict of Nantes had its retribution. 
In many cases what France cast out, gainful arts and skilled 
artisans, were not only lost to her, but transferred to other 
countries, where they laid the foundation of industrial estab- 
lishments the effect of whose rivalry of her own workshops is 
felt by her to this day. 

Another singular effect of these persecutions has been no- 
ticed by Michaud and other recent writers. Among the exiled 
French were very considerable numbers of literary men, print- 
ers, and book-sellers, who immediately entered on a new sphere 



240 Appendix. 



of professional activity in the countries whicli hospitalbly re- 
ceived tliem. They devoted themselves much to criticism, and 
to all forms of periodical literature. The political and econom- 
ical journals which sprung up in Protestant Europe were, in 
numerous cases, established by French refugees, and these ex- 
iles became the founders and creators of a moral force known as 
the " collective public opinion of Europe." This opinion France 
has more than once defied, and again and again paid the penal- 
ty of her arrogance ; but it is still mightier than all her savants, 
all her soldiers. 

Italy has witnessed a similar crime, a similar retribution. 
Her patriots and scholars, whom Naples, the Austrian misgov- 
ernment of her Italian provinces, and papal Rome thrust out, 
proved in all parts of Europe the most potent enemies of their 
persecutors, the most eloquent advocates of their oppressed 
country. Their talents, their virtues, their sufferings, won for 
themselves and their country the admiration and sympathy, 
and even the political support, of Europe. The curses of the 
papacy have come back to perch under the roof of the Vatican, 
and the whole civilized world rejoices at the return of the ban- 
ished and the downfall of their oppressors. 



IX. 

THE ^^MONITA SECRETA'^ SOCIETATIS JESU. 

The first edition of the " Monita Secreta '^ was published at 
Paderborn in 1661, and an authentic copy of the original manu- 
script, found among the records of the Jesuit college at Rure- 
monde, when they were taken possession of by the Government 
upon the suppression of the order, is stated to be preserved in 
the archives of the Palais de Justice at Brussels. The question 
of the genuineness of the "Monita Secreta" has been much dis- 
cussed, and a good deal of evidence has been adduced to estab- 
lish it. The work has been accepted as authentic by many 
able writers ; but there is a strong improbability that so subtle 
an association as the Jesuits would intrust to paper a set of 



Appendix. 241 



rules, the exposure of wliicli would seriously prejudice the po- 
sition of the order. It is now generally believed to be spurious 
in form at least, though hardly to be considered a caricature 
of the principles which govern the action of the society. The 
latest edition we have seen is that published by C. Sauvestre at 
the press of Dentu, Paris, 1864. This edition contains the Latin 
text, with a French translation, full notes, and other illustrative 
matter, and, like its predecessors, has now become rare. 

It consists of seventeen chapters, treating of the following 
points : Of the mode of proceeding when the society commences 
a new establishment ; how the fathers of the society may ac- 
quire and retain intimacy ^vith princes and other distinguished 
persons ; how the society is to act toward persons of authority 
in the State, and who, even if not rich, may render other valua- 
ble services ; what ought to be recommended to the preachers 
and confessors of great personages ; how to act toward ecclesi- 
astics who perform in the church the same offices as ourselves ; 
of the means of gaining over rich widows ; how to take care of 
widows and dispose of their estates; how to induce the children 
of widows to embrace the profession of a religious life ; of in- 
creasing the revenues of our colleges ; of the rigor of discipline 
in the society; how we are to behave toward those who may 
have been dismissed from the order ; whom we ought to retain 
in the society ; of the choice of young men to be admitted to 
the society, and of the means of retaining them ; of reserved 
cases and of dismissals from the society ; how to behave toward 
nuns and devotees ; of affecting to despise riches ; of the means 
of securing the advancement of the society. 



SUPPKESSION OF BOOKS BY THE PKIESTS. 

As soon as the support of the civil power had given the cler- 
gy confidence in its own strength, confessors began to require 
their penitents to surrender to them all heretical writings in 
their possession. These were generally mutilated or destroyed 

11 



242 Appendix. 



by the priests ; and hence, as we have shown in the text, the 
disappearance of many works known to have been widely cir- 
culated at various periods, but disapproved by the Church. 
The burning of such books was not only commended, but en- 
joined, by a brief of Innocent lY., in 1243. The brief recites 
that the chancellor and doctors of the University of Paris had, 
with praiseworthy zeal, publicly burned, in the presence of the 
assembled clergy and people, the Talmud and other condemned 
volumes, and charges the King of France, to whom the brief 
was addressed, to cause all books disapproved by the doctors 
of the university to be seized wherever they could be found 
within his realm, and consumed by fire. 

But the zeal of the faithful did not always wait a formal con- 
demnation by the clergy. Even before the brief of Innocent 
IV., the crusaders had destroyed all the Arabic books which fell 
into their possession, and the conquest of a Moorish town in 
Spain by the Christians was generally followed by a hecatomb 
of the Hebrew and Arabic books found in public libraries or in 
the hands of private possessors. The ignorant and fanatical 
soldiery supposed all Hebrew manuscripts to be Talmuds, all 
Arabic books to be Korans ; but even at comparatively later and 
better -instructed periods, large collections of Oriental books 
were condemned to the flames by the Spanish clergy, with lit- 
tle or no examination, upon the presumption that they were 
hostile to Christianity, because found in unchristian hands. 

In recent centuries, the Church is more circumspect. It does 
not often hold a public auto-da-fe oygt heretical books ; but Cath- 
olic confessors are instructed to require their penitents to deliv- 
er to them all condemned or suspected books, and these are pri- 
vately made away with. A special condemnation by insertion 
in the "Index," by title,is not necessary, for the "Index" pro- 
scribes all works on moral or religious topics by heretical au- 
thors. The secret of the confessional, in general, covers these 
transactions, and it is not often that the intentional destruction 
of such books can be brought home to the incendiaries. 

The following extract from the London Publishers' Cdrcular of 
December 18th, 1875, however, cites a case in point, which is a 
^ good illustration of the Christian charity of the devotees of 
Kome : 



Appendix. 243 



"A new awfo-(?a-/e has just been chronicled in the Times , which 
is of great interest to all authors and publishers, and which, 
in connection with the celebrated Guibord case, should give us 
pause. Mr. Guibord was not allowed to be buried in his own 
freehold grave, and when so permitted had that grave dese- 
crated or cursed because he belonged to a club the library of 
which held some Protestant books condemned by the papal ^' In- 
dex." It was not alleged that Guibord had purchased or even 
read the books. It is enough that he was librarian. What, then, 
if, as a publisher, he sold such books? But even worse than this 
is the following. M. de Gasparin was a well-known writer on 
the side of Christianity. He assailed the fortress of Skepticism, 
and pleaded in gentle and persuasive tones for faith, goodness, 
and religion. In short, his writings, tender rather than strong, 
are much like those that we find in the best works of our 
own Christian societies. They are esteemed and welcomed by 
all who wish well to the Christian religion. Madame Gaspa- 
rin, the well-known Protestant writer, and widow of the author 
named, having presented a copy of her late husband's work, 
'Les Ecoles du Doute et les Ecoles de la Foi,' to the popular 
library of Boussenois, in the Cote d'Or, has received, says the 
Times, the following extraordinary letter from its director, M. 
de Geroal: ^We can not thank you too much on this occasion. 
M. de Gasparin's works and those of the Franklin Press are most 
useful to us. This very morning we made the finest fire ever 
seen with all these works. How pleasant, now the mornings 
are chilly, to warm one's fingers with M. de Gasparin's books ! 
They burn splendidly. Once more thanks, madame. Geneva 
paper, especially M. de Gasparin's, has done us a great service, 
and we hope to warm ourselves again with his books. Mean- 
while, pray accept our warmest compliments.' 

" The satire in this is not very strong, but there is no doubt 
of the intention. As Mr. Artemus Ward has it, there is every 
evidence that M. de Geroal ^ spoke sarcastuck ' when he asks a 
lady, with fingers hot from the fire made of her husband's books, 
to ^ accept his warmest congratulations.' So the old auto-da-fe 
is coming up again. History repeats itself. ^As well kill a 
man as kill a good book,' says Milton ] but, then, M. de Geroal is 
not Milton. The publisher of Peter Bayle, it is said, declared 



244 Appe7idix, 



that the Sorbonne had burned some of his books so as to give 
them a rapid sale. Perhaps M. de Geroal will thus have the 
mortification to find that he has advertised ^The Schools of 
Doubt and the Schools of Faith.^ An English edition would 
sell well. If, according to Milton, a good book is Hhe precious 
life-blood of a master spirit/ he who sheds that blood is indeed 
guilty. But it is one thing to burn a book, and another to an- 
swer and confute it. In this case the curiosity of the matter 
lies in the fact that the book was not controversial, was against 
doubters of Christianity, and was entirely on the side of relig- 
ion, law, and order. But it was written by a Protestant, and 
that, we presume, was quite a sufficient reason for the strange 
use to which M. de Geroal put it. Paper, however, makes a bad 
fire — we prefer coal. They must be miserably off for fuel at 
Boussenois, to chronicle in such gleeful terms ^ the finest fire 
they had ever seen.^ " 



XL 

LETTER FROM THE SAVIOUR TO A GIRL OF ST. MARCEL IN FRANCE. 

We here give the original of this letter at length, without 
translation, referring to Part III., p. 146, for an explanation of 
its purport. 

Lettera vera di Gesu CristOj mandata per mano delV Angela Custode 
ad una FanciuUa cMamata Brigida^ 9 miglia distante da S. Mar- 
cello di Franeia, stampata a lettere dJ oro e trovata a^ piedi di un 
CrocifissOf ov* era una FanciuUa cJie da 7 anni non aveva parlato, 
e subito che senti la presente Lettera parlb e disse tre volte Gesu e 
Maria e sempre seguiib aparlare; ed e morta santamente in eta di 
dodici anni. 

La Domenica che h Festa di precetto andate alia Santa Chi- 
esa, e pregate Iddio che vi perdoni i vostri peccati. lo vi ho 
lasciati sei giorni per lavorare, ed il settimo per riposare. Do- 
vet e in quel giorno udire la santa Messa ed ascoltare i Divini 
Uffizj e prediche, e fare elimosine ai poveri secondo la vostra 
possibilita, che sarete da me riempiti di beni. Se poi digiune- 
rete i cinque Yenerdi dell' anno in onore delle mie cinque Piaghe 
che ebbi sopra la CrocC; vi faro molte grazie di quelle che mi do- 
manderete. 



Appe7idix. 245 



Tutti qnelli che mormoreranno contra la mia Santa Lettera, 
che diranno non essere uscita dalla mia santa bocca, come pure 
quelli che la terrano celata e non la pubblicheranno saranno 
da me abbandonati ; e tutti quelli che la paleserauno e diranno 
clie e uscita dalla mia santa bocca, li perdonero tutti i loro pec- 
cati e saranno da me eternamente beati. Quelli poi clie la pa- 
leserauno non avranno sopra di loro spiriti maligni, saranno 
liberi da fulmini, tempeste e flagelli e se qualche donna non 
potra partorire, ponendosi indosso questa mia Santa Lettera e 
recitera tre Ave Maria alia SS. Vergine, partorira felicemente. 
Tutti quelli che ubbidiranno i miei santi Comandamenti goder- 
anno nell' Eternita la Santa Gloria del Paradiso. 

Ebbi trenta pugni in Bocca, e quando fui vicino alia casa d' 
Anna caddi tre volte, ebbi quattrocento cinque colpi sul Capo, 
ed i Soldati che mi accompagnarono furono tremila duegento 
quaranta ; e quelli che mi portarono legato furono otto. 

Le goccie di sangue che yersai, furono tre milioni ed otto- 
cento, e quella persona che mi dira ogni giorno due Pater, Ave 
e Gloria per tre anni continui per adempire le goccie di sangue 
che ho sparso sul monte Calvario concedero cinque grazie. 

La prima, Indulgenza Plenaria e remissione di tutti i suoi 
peccati. 

La seconda, non le faro provare le pene del Purgatorio. 

La terza, le concedero d' essere come martire che ha sparso il 
suo sangue per la S. Fede. 

La quarta, calero dal Cielo in Terra a prendere V anima sua 
eve insieme con V anima de' suoi parenti sino al quarto grado 
ed an che se fossero in Purgatorio, li porterb a godere la Santa 
Gloria del Paradiso nell' Eternita. 

La quinta, le persone che porteranno qnesta Santa Lettera in- 
dosso otto giorni prima di morire andera la B. Y. Maria ad as- 
sistere V anima sua e non morira di morte subitanea. La sua 
casa sara libera d' ogni male. — In Eomaj con j^ermissione di S. 
Saniita il Sommo Fontefice Fio IX, 



XII. 

THE ROMISH CHURCH UNDER THE REIGN OF PIUS IX. 

The great theological measures which will make the reign of 
Pius IX. perhaps the most memorable in the history of the Kom- 
ish Church are : 



246 Appendix. 



I. Tlie definition of the dogma of tlie Immaculate Con- 
ception of the Virgin Mary. 

II. The Encyclical and Syllabus of 1864. 

III. The definition of the dogma of the personal infallibil- 
ity of the Roman pontiff. 

Specially characteristic of the wioraZ and intellectual tenden- 
cies of the administration of the Church under its present 
head are : 

IV. The elevation of St. Alfonso de' Liguori to the rank 
of Doctor of the Church. 

V. The dedication of the Universal Church to the cult us 
of the Sacred Heart. 

VI. The Bolla di Composizione, for the ease of conscience 
of thieves, robbers, and other criminals. 

I. The definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, 
promulgated on the 10th of December, 1854, was not the work 
of a general council of the Church, but a personal act of Pius 
IX., though no doubt a large number of bishops at Rome and in 
their several dioceses concurred in it. 

A friend residing at Rome has obtained for our use a copy of 
the bull Ineffahilis DeuSj by which it was proclaimed, and we 
print it here entire : 

SANCTISSi:\fI DOMINI NOSTRI PII DIVINA PROVIDENTIA TAPM 
IX LITTERS APOSTOLICiE DE DOGMATICA DEFINITIONE IM- 
MACULATE CONCEPTIONIS VIRGINIS DEIPARE. 

PIUS EPISCOPUS SERYUS SERYORUM DEI AD PERPETUAM REI 
MEMORIAM. 

Ineffahilis Deus, cujus vise misericordia et Veritas, cujus vo- 
luntas omnipotentia, et cujus sapientia attingit a fine usque ad 
finem fortiter et disponit omnia suaviter, cum ab omni seterni- 
tate prsBviderit luctuosissimam totius humani generis ruinam 
ex Adami transgressione derivaudam, atque in mysterio a saecu- 
lis abscondifco primum suae bonitatis opus decreverit per Verbi 
incarnationem sacramento occultiore complere, ut contra mise- 
ricors suum propositum homo diabolicse iniquitatis versutia ac- 
tus in culpam non periret, et quod in prime Adamo casurum 
erat, in secundo felicius erigeretur, ab initio et ante saecula Uni- 
genito Filio suo matrem, ex qua caro factus in beata temporum 



Appendix. 247 



plenitudine nasceretur, elegit atque ordinavit, tantoque prse 
ereaturis uuiversis est prosequutus amore, ut in ilia una sibi 
propensissima voluntate complacuerit. Quapropter illam longe 
ante omues Angelicos Spiritus, cunctosque Sanctos cselestium 
omnium charismatum copia de tbesauro divinitatis deprompta 
ita mirifice cumulavit, ut Ipsa ab omni prorsus peccati labe 
semper libera, ac tota pulcra et perfecta eam innocentise, et 
sanctitatis plenitudinem prse se ferret, qua major sub Deo nul- 
latenus intelligitur, et quam prseter Deura nemo assequi cogi- 
tando potest. Et quidem decebat omnino, ut perfectissimae 
sanctitatis splendoribus semper ornata fulgeret, ac vel ab ipsa 
originalis culpge labe plane immunis amplissimum de antiquo 
serpente triumphum referret tarn venerabilis mater, cui Deus 
Pater unicum Filium suum, quern de corde suo sequalem sibi 
genitum tamquam seipsum diliglt, ita dare disposuit, ut natura- 
liter esset unus idemque communis Dei Patris, et Yirginis Fili- 
us, et quam ipse Filius substantialiter facere sibi matrem elegit, 
et de qua Spiritus Sanctus Yoluit, et operatus est, ut concipere- 
tur et nasceretur ille, de quo ipse procedit. 

Quam originalem augustse Virgiuis innocentiam cum admira- 
bili ejusdem sanctitate, prsecelsaque Dei Matris diguitate omni- 
no cohserentem catbolica Ecclesia, quae a Sancto semper edocta 
Spiritu columua est ac firmamentum veritatis, tamquam doctri- 
nam possidens divinitus acceptam, et cielestis revelationis de- 
posit© comprebensam multiplici continenter rafcione, splendi- 
disque factis magis in dies explicare, proponere, ac fovere nun- 
quam destitit. Hanc enim doctrinam ab antiquissimis tempo- 
ribus yigentem, ac fidelium animis penitus insitam, et Sacrorum 
Antistitum curis studiisque per catbolicum orbem mirifice pro- 
pagatam ipsa Ecclesia luculentissime significavit, cum ejusdem 
Virginis Conceptionem publico fidelium cultui ac veneration! 
proponere non dubitavit. Quo illustri quidem facto ipsius Yir- 
ginis Conceptionem veluti singularem, miram, et a reliquorum 
hominum primordiis longissime secretam, et omnino sanctam 
colendam exbibuit, cum Ecclesia nonnisi de Sanctis dies festos 
concelebret. Atque iccirco vel ipsissima verba, quibus divi- 
nse Scripturae de iucreata Sapientia loquuutur, ej usque sempi- 
ternas origines repraesentant, consuevit tum in ecclesiasticis of- 
ficiis, tum in sacrosancta Liturgia adbibere, et ad illius Virginis 
primordia transferre, quae uno eodemque decreto cum Divinae 
Sapientiae incaruatione fuerant praestituta. 

Quamvis autem baec omnia penes fideles ubiqne prope re- 
cepta ostendant, quo studio ejusmodi de Immaculata Virginis 
Conceptione doctrinam ipsa quoque Eomana Ecclesia omnium 



248 Appendix. 



Ecclesiarum mater et magistra fiierit proseqiiuta, tamen illus- 
tria hnjiis Ecclesise facta digna plane sunt, quse nominatim re- 
censeautur, cum tanta sit ejusdem Ecclesise dignitas, atque auc- 
toritas, quanta illi omnino debetur, quae est catliolicsB veritatis 
et unitatis centrum, in qua solum inviolabiliter fuit custodita 
religio, et ex qua traducem fidei reliquse omnes Ecclesiss mutu- 
entur oportet. Itaque eadem Romana Ecclesia nihil potius ha- 
buit, quam eloquentissimis quibusque modis Immaculatam Vir- 
ginis Conceptioneni, ej usque cultum et doctrinam asserere, tueri, 
promovere et vindicare. Quod apertissime planissimeque tes- 
tantur et declarant tot insignia sane acta Romanorum Pontifi- 
cum Decessorum Nostrorum, quibus in persona Apostolorum 
Principis ab ipso Christo Domino divinitus fuit commissa su- 
prema cura atque potestas pascendi agnos et oves, confirmandi 
fratres, et universam regendi et gubernandi Ecclesiam. 

Enimvero Prsedecessores Nostri vehementer gloriati sunt Apo- 
stolica sua auctoritate festum Conceptionis in Romana Ecclesia 
instituere, ac proprio officio, propriaque missa, quibus prseroga- 
tiva immunitatis ab hereditaria labe manifestissime assereba- 
tur, augere, honestare, et cultum jam institutum omni ope pro- 
movere, ami3lificare sive erogatis indulgentiis, sive facultate tri- 
buta civitatibus, provinciis, reguisque, ut Deiparam sub titulo 
Immaculatae Conceptionis patronam sibi deligerent, sive com- 
probatis Sodalitatibus, Congregationibus, Religiosisque Familiis 
ad Immaculatoe Conceptionis honorem institutis, sive laudibus 
eorum pietati delatis, qui monaster! a, xenodochia, altaria, templa 
sub Immaculati Conceptus titulo erexerint, aut sacramenti re- 
ligione interposita Immaculatam Deiparse Conceptionera stre- 
nue propugnare spoponderint. Insuper summopere laetati sunt 
decernere Conceptionis festum ab omni Ecclesia esse habendum 
eodum censu ac numero, quo festum Nativitatis, idemque Con- 
ceptionis festum cum octava ab universa Ecclesia celebrandum, 
et ab omnibus inter ea, quae prsecepta sunt, sancte colendum, ac 
Pontificiam Cappellam in Patriarchali Nostra Liberiana Basili- 
ca die Virginis Conceptionis sacro quotannis esse peragendam. 
Atque exoptantes in fidelium animis quotidie magis fovere 
banc de Immaculata Deiparse Conceptione doctrinam, eorum- 
que pietatem excitare ad ipsam Virginem sine labe originali 
conceptam colendam, et venerandam, gavisi sunt quam libentis- 
sime facultatem tribuere, ut in Lauretanis Litaniis, et in ipsa 
Missse praefatione Immaculatus ejusdem Virginis proclamare- 
tur Conceptus, atque adeo lex credendi ipsa supplicandi lege 
statueretur. Nos porro tantorum Praedecessorum vestigiis in- 
haerentes non solum quae ab ipsis pientissime sajDientissimeque 



A2')pendix. 249 



faerant constituta probavimus et recepimus, verum etiam me- 
inores institutionis Sixti IV propriiim de Immaciilata Concep- 
tione officium auctoritate Nostra munivimus, illiusque usum 
universae Ecclesiae laetissimo i)rorsus auimo concessimus. 

Qiioniam vero quae ad cultum pertinent, intimo plane vincu- 
lo cum ejusdem objecto conserta sunt, neque rata et fixa ma- 
nere possunt, si illud anceps sit, et in ambiguo versetur, iccirco 
Decessores Nostri Romani Pontifices omni cura Couceptionis 
cultum amplificantes, illius etiam objectum ac doctrinam de- 
clarare, et inculca reimpensissime studuerunt. Etenim clare 
aperteque docuere, festum agi de Yirginis Conceptione, atque 
uti falsam, et ab Ecclesise mente alienissimam proscripserunt 
illorum opinionem, qui non Couceptionem ipsam, sed sanctifi- 
cationem ab Ecclesia coli arbitrarentur et affirmarent. Neque 
mitius cnm iis agendum esse existimarunt, qui ad labefactan- 
dam de Immaculata Virginis Conceptione doctrinam excogitate 
inter primum atque alterum Conceptionis instans et momentum 
discrimine, asserebant, celebrari quidem Couceptionem, sed non 
pro primo instauti atque momento. Ipsi namque Prsedeces- 
sores Nostri suarum partium esse duxerunt, et beatissimse Vir- 
ginis Conceptionis festum, et Couceptionem pro primo instanti 
tamquam verum cult us objectum omni studio tueri ac propug- 
nare. Hinc decretoria plane verba, quibus Alexander VII De- 
eessor Noster sinceram Ecclesise mentem declaravit inquiens, 
'^ Sane vetus est CbristiMelium erga ejus beatissimam Matrem 
Virginem Mariam pietas sentientium, ejus auimam in primo in- 
stauti creationis, atque infusionis in corpus fuisse speciali Dei 
gratia et privilegio, intuitu meritorum Jesu Christi ejus Filii, 
liumani generis Redemptoris, a macula peccati originalis prge- 
servatam immunem, atque in hoc sensu ejus Conceptionis fes- 
tivitatem solemni ritu coleutium, et celebrantium."* 

Atque illud in primis solemne quoque fuit iisdem Decessori- 
bus Nostris doctrinam de Immaculata Dei Matris Conceptione 
sartam tectamque omni cura, studio et coutentione tueri. Ete- 
nim non solum nullatenus passi sunt, ipsam doctrinam quovis 
modo a quopiam notari, atque traduci, verum etiam longe ul- 
terius progressi perspicuis declarationibus, iteratisque vicibus 
edixerunt, doctrinam, qua Immaculatam Virginis Couceptionem 
profitemur, esse, suoque merito haberi cum ecclesiastico cultu 
plane consonam, eamque veterem, ac prope universalem et 
ejusmodi, quam Romaua Ecclesia sibi fovendam, tuendamque 

* Alexander VII Const, SolUcitudo omnium Ecclesiarum, VIII Decembris 
1661. 



250 Appendix. 



susceperit, atque omnino dignam, qnsd in sacra ipsa Liturgia, 
solemn ibusque precibus usurparetur. Neque his contenti, ut 
ipsa de Immaculato Virginis Conceptu doctrina inviolata per- 
sisteret, opinioneni liuic doctrinj© adversam sive publice, sive 
privatiai defendi posse severissime probibuere, eanique multi- 
plici veluti vulnere confectam esse voluerunt. Quibus repetitis 
luculentissiraisque declarationibus, ne inanes viderentur, adje- 
cere sanctionem : quae omnia laudatus Prsedecessor Noster Alex- 
ander VII his verbis est complexus: 

^^Nos considerantes, quod Sancta Romana Ecclesia de in- 
temeratse semper Virginis Marias Conceptione festum solemniter 
celeb rat, et speciale ac proprium super hoc officium olim ordi- 
navit juxta piara, devotam et laudabilem institutionem, quae a 
Sixto IV Prsedecessore Nostro tunc emanavit ; volentesque lau- 
dabili huic pietati et devotioni, et festo, ac cultui secundum 
illam exhibito. in Ecclesia Romana, post ipsius cultus institu- 
tionem nunquam immutato, Romanorum Pontificum Praedeces- 
sorum Nostrorum exemplo favere, nee non tueri pietatem, et 
devotionem banc colendi, et celebrandi beatissimam Virgiuem, 
praeveniente scilicet Spiritus Sancti gratia, a peccato original! 
praeservatam, cupientesque in Christi grege unitatem spiritus 
in vinculo pacis, sedatis offensionibus, et jurgiis, amotisque 
scandalis conservare : ad praefatorum Episcoporum cum Eccle- 
siarum suarum Capitulis, ac Philippi Regis, ej usque Regnorum 
oblatam Nobis instantiam, ac preces, Constitutiones, et Decreta, 
a Romanis Pontificibus Praedecessoribus Nostris, et praecipue a 
Sixto IV, Paullo V et Gregorio XV edita in favorem sententiae 
asserentis, Animam beatae Mariae Virginis in sui creatione, et in 
corpus infusione, Spiritus Sancti gratia donatam, et a peccato 
originali praeservatam fuisse, nee non et in favorem festi, et 
cultus Conceptionis ejusdem Virginis Deiparae, secundum piam 
istam sententiam, ut praefertur, exhibiti, iimovamus, et sub 
censuris, et pcenis in eisdem Constitutionibus contentis obser- 
vari mandamus. 

"Et insuper omnes et singulos, qui praefatas Constitutiones, 
sen Decreta ita pergent interpretari, ut favorem per illas dictae 
sententiae, et festo sen cultui secundum illam exhibito, frustren- 
tur, vel qui banc eamdem sententiam, festum seu cultum in 
disputationem revocare, aut contra ea quoquo modo directe, vel 
indirecte, aut quovis praetextu, etiam definibilitatis ejus ex- 
aminandae, sive Sacram Scripturam, aut Sanctos Patres, sive 
Doctores glossandi vel interpretandi, denique alio quovis prae- 
textu seu occasione, scripto seu voce loqui, concionari, tractare, 
disputare, contra ea quidquam determinando, aut asserendo, 



Appendix. 251 



vel argumenta contra ea afferenclo, et insoluta reliuquendo, aut 
alio quovis inexcogitabili moclo disserendo ausi fiierint, prseter 
pcenas et censuras in Constitutiouibus Sixti lY coutentas, qui- 
bus illos subjacere volumus, et per prsesentes subjicimus, etiam 
concionandi, publico legendi, sen docendi, et interpretandi fac- 
ultate, ac voce activa, et passiva in quibuscumque electionibus, 
eo ipso absque alia declaratione privatos esse voluraus ; nee non 
ad concionandvim, publico legendum, docendum, et interpretan- 
dum perpetuge inbabilitatis pcenas ipso facto incurrere absque 
alia declaratione; a quibus pcenis nonnisi a Nobis ipsis, ycI a 
Successoribus Nostris Romanis Pontificibus absolvi, aut super 
iis dispensari jjossint : nee non eosdem aliis pcenis Nostro, et 
eorumdem Romanorum Pontificum Successorum Nostrorum ar- 
bitrio infligendis pariter subjacere volumus, prout subjicimus 
per prsesentes, innovantes Paulli V et Gregorii XY superius me- 
moratas Constitutiones sive Decreta. 

"Ac libros, in quibus prsefata sententia, festum, sen cultus 
secundum illam in dubium revocatur, aut contra ea quomodo- 
cunique, ut supra, aliquid scribitur, aut legitur, seu locutiones, 
conciones, tractatus, et disputationes contra eadem continentur, 
post Paulli Y supra laudatum Decretum edit a, aut in posterum 
quomodolibet edenda, prohibemus sub pcenis et censuris in In- 
dice librorum prohibitorum coutentis, et ipso facto absque alia 
declaratione pro expresse prohibitis haberi volumus et manda- 
mus." 

Omnes autem norunt quanto studio bsec de Immaculata Dei- 
parse Yirginis Conceptione doctrina a spectatissimis Religiosis 
Familiis, et celebrioribus Theologicis Academiis ac prsestantis- 
simis rerum divinarum scientia Doctoribus fuerit tradita, as- 
serta ac propugnata. Omnes pariter norunt quantopere sollici- 
ti fuerint Sacrorum Antistites vel in ipsis ecclesiasticis conven- 
tibus palam publiceque profiteri, sanctissimam Dei Genitricem 
Virginem Mariam ob prsevisa Christi Domini Redemptoris me- 
rita nunquam originali subjacuisse peccato, sed prseservatam 
omnino fuisse ab originis labe, et iccirco sublimiori modo re- 
demptam. Quibus illud profecto gravissimum, et omnino max- 
imum accedit, ipsam quoque Tridentinam Synodura, cum dog- 
maticum de peccato originali ederet decretum, quo juxta sa- 
crarum Scripturarum, sanctorumque Patrum, ac probatissimo- 
rum Conciliorum testimonia statuit, ac definivit, omnes homines 
nasci originali culpa infectos, tamen solemniter declarasse, non 
esse suae intentionis in decreto ipso, tantaque definitionis am- 
plitudine comprehendere beatam et Immaculatam Yirginem 
Dei Genitricem Mariam. Hac enim declaratione Tridentini 



252 A2y2^endix. 



Patres, ipsam beatissimam Virginem ab originali labe solutam 
pro rerum temporumque acljuuctis satis innuerunt, atque adeo 
perspicue siguificarunt, nihil ex divinis litteris, nihil ex tradi- 
tione, Patramque auctoritate rite afferri posse, quod tantsd Yir- 
giuis praerogativae quovis modo refragetur. 

Et re quidem vera banc de Iramaculata beatissimse Virginia 
Conceptione doctriDam quotidie magis gravissimo EcclesisB sen- 
su, magisterio, studio, scientia ac sapientia tarn splendide ex- 
plicatam, declaratam, confirmatam, et apud oraues catholici or- 
bis populos ac nationes mirandum in modum propagatam, in 
ipsa Ecclesia semper extitisse veluti a majoribus acceptam, ac 
relevatse doctrinae charactere insiguitam illustria venerandse an- 
tiquitatis Ecclesiae orientalis et occidentalis monumeuta validis- 
sime testantur. Christ! enim Ecclesia sediila depositorum apud 
se dogmatum custos, et vindex nihil in his unquam permutat, 
nihil miuuit, nihil addit, sed omni industria Vetera fideliter sa- 
pienterque tractando si qua antiquitus iDformata suut, et Pa- 
trum fides sevit, italimare, expolire studet, ut prisca ilia cselestis 
doctriuse dogmata accipiant evidentiam, lucem, distinctionem, 
sed retineant pleuitudinem, integritatem, proprietatem, ac in 
suo tautum genere crescant, in eodem scilicet dogmate, eodem 
sensu, eademque sententia. 

Equidem Patres, Ecclesiaeque Scriptores cailestibus edocti 
eloqniis nihil antiquius habuere, quam in libris ad explicandas 
Scripturas, vindicauda dogmata, erudiendosque fideles elucu- 
bratis summam Yirginis sanctitatem, dignitatem, atque ab om- 
ni peccati labe integritatem, ej usque praeclaram de teterrimo 
humani generis hoste victoriam multis mirisque modis certatim 
prsedicare atque efferre. Quapropter enarrantes verba, quibus 
Deus prseparata renovandis mortalibus suae pietatis remedia in- 
ter ipsa mundi primordia praenuntians et deceptoris serpentis 
retulit audaciam, et nostri generis spem mirifice erexit inquiens, 
^' Inimicitias ponam inter te et mulierem, semen tuum et semen 
illius " docuere, divino hoc oraculo clare aperteque praemonstra- 
tum fuisse misericordem humani generis Redemptorem, scilicet 
Unigenitum Dei Filium Christum Jesum, ac designatam beatis- 
simam Ejus matrem Virginem Mariam, ac simul ipsissimas utri- 
usque contra diabolum inimicitias insigniter expressas. Quo- 
circa sicut Christus Dei homiuumque mediator humana assump- 
ta natura delens quod adversus nos erat chirographum decreti, 
illud cruci triumphator affixit, sic sauctissima Virgo arctissimo, 
et indissolubili vinculo cum Eo conjuncta una cum Illo, et per 
Ilium sempiternas contra venenosum serpentem inimicitias ex- 
ercens, ac de ipso plenissime triumphans illius caput immacula- 
to pede contrivit. 



Appendix. 253 



Hunc eximium, singularemque Yirginis triumplium, excellen- 
tissimamque innoceutiam, puritatem, sanctitatem, ejusque ab 
omni peccati labe integritatem, atque inefl'abilem cselestium 
omnium gratiarum, virtutum, ac privilegioriim copiam, et mag- 
nitudinem iiclem Patres viderunt turn iu area ilia Noe, quae di- 
vinitus constituta a communi totius mundi naufragio plane sal- 
va et incolumis evasit ; turn in scala ilia, quam de terra ad cae- 
lum usque pertingere vidit Jacob, cujus gradibus Angeli Dei 
ascendebant, et descendebant, cuj usque vertici ipse innitebatur 
Dominus; turn in rubo illo, quem in loco sancto Moyses undi- 
que ardere, et inter crepitantes ignis flammas non jam comburi 
aut jacturam vel minimam pati, sed pulcre virescere ac flores- 
cere conspexit ; turn in ilia inexpugnabili turri a facie inimici, 
ex qua mille clypei pendent, omnisque armatura fortium ; tum 
in borto illo concluso, qui nescit violari, neque corrumpi ullis 
insidiarum fraudibus; tum in corusca ilia Dei civitate, cujus 
fundamenta in moutibus Sanctis; tum in augustissimo illo Dei 
temiDio, quod divinis refulgens splendoribus plenum est gloria 
Domini, tum in aliis ejusdem generis omnino plurimis, quibus 
excelsam Deiparse dignitatem, ejusque illibatam innocentiam, 
et nuUi unquam nsevo obnoxiam sanctitatem insigniter prsenun- 
ciatam fuisse Patres tradiderunt. 

Ad banc eamdem divinorum munerum veluti summam, origi- 
nalemque Yirginis, de qua natus est Jesus, integritatem descri- 
bendam iidem Propbetarum adbibentes eloquia non aliter ip- 
sam augustam Yirginem concelebrarunt, ac uti columbam mun- 
dam, et sanctam Jerusalem, et excelsum Dei thronum, et arcam 
sanctificationis, et domum, quam sibi seterna sedificavit Sapien- 
tia, et Reginam illam, quse deliciis affluens, et innixa super Di- 
lectum suum ex ore Altissimi prodivit omnino perfecta, specio- 
sa ac penitus cara Deo, et nullo unquam labis naevo maculata. 
Cum vero ipsi Patres, Ecclesiseque Scriptores animo menteque 
reputarent, beatissimam Yirginem ab Angelo Gabriele sublimis- 
simam Dei Matris dignitatem ei nuntiante, ipsius Dei nomine 
et jussu gratia plenam fuisse nuncupatam, docuerunt, bac sin- 
gulari solemnique salutatione nunquam alias audita ostendi, 
Deiparam fuisse omnium divinarum gratiarum sedem, omnibus- 
que divini Spirit us cbarismatibus exornatam, immo eorumdem 
cbarismatam infinitum prope tbesaurum, abyssumque inexbaus- 
tam, adeo ut nunquam maledicto obnoxia, et una cum Filio 
perpetuse benedictionis particeps ab Elisabetb divino acta Spi- 
ritu audire meruerifc : henedicta Tu inter mulieres, et henedictusfruc- 
tus ventris tui, 

Hinc non luculenta minus, quam concors eorumdem senten- 



254 Appendix. 



tia, gloriosissimam Virginem, cut fecit magna, qui Potens est, ea 
cselestium onmiiim donorum vi, ea gratise plenitudine, eaque in- 
nocentia einicuisse, qua veluti inelfabile Dei miraculum, immo 
omnium miraculorum apex, ac digna Dei mater extiterit, et ad 
Deum ipsum pro ratione creatse naturse, quam proximo acce- 
dens omnibus, qua liumanis, qua angelicis praeconiis celsior eva- 
serit. Atque iceirco ad originalem Dei Genitricis innocentiam, 
justitiamque yindicandam, non Eam modo cum Heva adhuc 
virgine, adhuc innocente, adhuc incorrupta, et nondum mortife- 
ris fraudulentissimi serpentis iusidiis decepta ssepissime contu- 
lerunt, verum etiam mira quadam verborum, sententiarumque 
varietate prsetulerunt. Heva enim serpenti misere obsequuta 
et ab originali excidit inuocentia, et illius mancipium evasit, 
sed beatissima Virgo origin ale donum jugiter augens, quin ser- 
penti aures unquam prsebuerit, illius vim potestatemque virtute 
diviuitus accepta funditus labefactavit. 

Quapropter nunquam cessarunt Deiparam appellare vel lili- 
um inter spinas, vel terram omnino intactam, virgineam, illiba- 
tam, immaculatam, semper benedictam, et ab omni peccati con- 
tagione liberam, ex qua novus formatus est Adam, vel irrepre- 
Lensibilem, lucidissimum, amcenissimumque innocentise, immor- 
talitatis, ac deliciarum paradisum a Deo ipso consitum, et ab 
omnibus venenosi serpentis insidiis defensum, vel lignum im- 
marcescibile, quod peccati vermis nunquam corruperit, vel fon- 
tem semper illimem, et Spiritus Sancti virtute signatum, vel di- 
vinissimum templum, vel immortalitatis thesaurum, vel unam 
et solam non mortis sed vitse filiam, non irse sed gratise germen, 
quod semper virens ex corrupta infectaque radice singulari Dei 
providentia prseter statas communesque leges effloruerit. Sed 
quasi hsec, licet splendidissima, satis non forent, propriis deii- 
nitisque sententiis edixerunt, nullam prorsus, cum de peccatis 
agitur, babendam esse quaestiouem de sancta Virgine Maria, cui 
plus gratisB collatum fuit ad vincendum omni ex parte peccatum ; 
tum professi sunt, gloriosissimam Virginem fuisse parentum re- 
paratricem, posterorum vivificatricem, a sseculo electam, ab Al- 
tissimo sibi prseparatam, a Deo, quando ad serpentem ait, " Ini- 
niicitias ponam inter te et mulierem," prsedictam, quae procul 
dubio venenatum ejusdem serpentis caput contrivit ; ac propte- 
rea affirmarunt, eamdem beatissimam Virginem fuisse per gra- 
tiam ab omni peccati labe iutegram, ac liberam ab omni conta- 
gione et corporis, et animse, et iutellectus, ac semper cum Deo 
conversatam, et sempiterno fcedere cum lUo conjunctam, nun- 
quam fuisse in tenebris, sed semper in luce, et iceirco idoneum 
plane extitisse Christo habitaculum uon pro babitu corporis, 
sed pro gratia originali. 



Appendix. 255 



Accedunt nobilissima effata, quibus de Virginis Conceptione 
loquentes testati sunt, naturam gratia© cessisse, ac stetisse tre- 
mulam pergere non sustinentem, nam futurum erat, ut Dei Gen- 
itrix Virgo non antea ex Anna conciperetur, quam gratia fruc- 
tum ederet : concipi siquidem primogenitam oportebat, ex qua 
concipiendus esset omnis creaturse primogenitus. Testati sunt 
carnem Virginis ex Adam sumptam maculas Adas non admisisse, 
ac propterea beatissimam Virginem tabernaculum esse ab ipso 
Deo creatum, Spiritu Sancto formatum, et purpureas revera ope- 
ras, quod novus ille Beseleel auro intextum variumque effinxit, 
eamdemque esse meritoque celebrari ut illam, quae proprium 
Dei opus primum extiterit, ignitis maligni telis latuerit, et pul- 
cra natura, ac labis prorsus omnis nescia, tamquam aurora un- 
dequaque rutilans in mundum prodiverit in sua conceptione 
immaculata. Non enim decebat, ut illud vas electionis commu- 
nibus lacesseretur injuriis, quoniam plurimum a ceteris diffe- 
rens, natura communicavit non culpa, immo prorsus decebat ut 
sicut Unigenitus in caelis Patrem babuit, quem Serapbim ter 
sanctum extoUunt, ita matrem baberet in terris, quae nitore 
sanctitatis nunquam caruerit. Atque baec quidem doctrina 
adeo majorum mentes, animosque occupavit, ut siugularis et 
omuino minis penes illos invaluerit loquendi usus, quo Deipa- 
ram saepissime compellaruut immaculatam, omnique ex parte 
immaculatam, innocentem et innocentissimam, illibatam et un- 
dequaque illibatam, sanctam et ab omni peccati sorde alieuissi- 
mam, totam puram, totam intemeratam, ac ipsam prope purita- 
tis et innocentiae formam, pulcritudine pulcriorem, venustate 
venustiorem, sanctiorem sauctitate, solamque sanctam, purissi- 
mamque anima et corpore, quae supergressa est omnem integri- 
tatem, et virginitatem, ac sola tota facta domicilium universa- 
rum gratiarum Sanctissimi Spiritus, et quae, solo Deo excepto, ex- 
titit cunctis superior, et ipsis Cberubim, et Serapbim, et omni 
exercitu Angelorum natura pulcrior, formosior et sanctior, cui 
prsedicandae caelestes et terrenae linguae minime sufficiunt, quem 
usum ad sanctissimae quoque liturgiae monumenta atque eccle- 
siastica officia sua veluti spoute fuisse traductum, et in illis pas- 
sim recurrere, ampliterque dominari nemo ignorat, cum in illis 
Deipara invocetur et praedicetur veliiti una incorrupta pulcri- 
tudinis columba, veluti rosa semper vigens, et undequaque x>u- 
rissima, et semper immaculata semperque beata, ac celebretur 
nti innocentia, quae nunquam fuit laesa, et altera Heva, quae 
Emmanuelem peperit. 

Nil igitur mirum si de immaculata Deiparae Virginis Concep- 
tione doctrinam judicio Patrum divinis litteris consignatam, tot 



256 Appendix. 



gravissimis eorumdem testimouiis traditam, tot illustribus ven- 
erandse antiquitatis mouumentis expressam et celebratam, ac 
maximo gravis simoque Ecclesiae judicio propositam et confirma- 
tam tanta pietate, religioue et amore ipsius Ecclesise Pastores, 
populiqne fideles quotidie magis profiteri siut gloriati, ut nihil 
iisdem dulcius, nihil carius, quam ferveDtissimo affectu Deixia- 
ram Virginem absque labe origiuali conceptam ubiqne colere, 
venerari, invocare, et prsedicare. Quamobrem ab antiqiiis tem- 
poribus Sacrorum Antistites, Ecclesiastici viri, regiilares Or- 
dines, ac vel ipsi Imperatores et Reges ab hac Apostolica Sede 
euixe eftiagitarunt, ut Immaculata sanctissimse Dei Genitricis 
Conceptio veluti catholicse fidei dogma definiretur. Quae pos- 
tulationes hac nostra quoque setate iteratse fuerunt, ac potissi- 
mum felicis recordationis Gregorio XVI Praedecessori Nostro, ac 
Nobis ipsis oblatse sunt turn ab Episcopis, turn a Clero saecula- 
ri, turn a Eeligiosis FamiliiS; ac summis Priucipibus et fidelibus 
populis. 

Nos itaque singulari animi nostri gaudio hsec omnia probe 
noscentes, ac serio considerantes, vix dum licet immeriti area- 
no divinse Providentise consilio ad hanc sublimem Petri Cathe- 
dram evecti totius Ecclesise gubernacula tractauda suscepimus, 
nihil certe antiquius habuimus, quam pro summa Nostra vel a 
teneris annis erga sanctissimam Dei Genitricem Virginem Ma- 
riam veneratione, pietate et affectu ea omnia peragere, quae ad- 
liuc in Ecclesiae votis essd poterant, ut beatissimae Virginis ho- 
nor augeretur, ej usque praerogativae uberiori luce niterent. Om- 
nem autem maturitatem adhibere volentes constituimus pecu- 
liarem VV. FF. NN. S. R. E. Cardinalium religioue, cousilio, ac 
divinarum rerum scientia illustrium Congregationem, et viros 
ex Clero tum saeculari, tum regulari, theologicis disciplinis ap- 
prime excultos selegimus, ut ea omnia, quae Immaculatam Vir- 
ginis Conceptionem respiciunt, accuratissime perpenderent, pro- 
priamque sententiam ad Nos deferrent. Quam vis autem Nobis 
ex receptis postalationibus de definienda tandem aliquando Im- 
maculata Virginis Conceptione perspectus esset plurimorum Sa- 
crorum Antistitum sensus, tamen Eucyclicas Litteras die 2 Feb- 
ruarii anno 1849 Cajetae datas ad omnes Venerabiles Fratres to- 
tius catholici orbis sacrorum Antistites misimus, ut, adhibitis 
ad Deum precibus. Nobis scripto etiam significarent, quae essent 
suorum fidelium erga Immaculatam Deiparae Conceptionem pi- 
etas, ac devotio, et quid ipsi praesertim Antistites de hac ipsa 
definitione ferenda sentirent, quidve exoptarent, ut, quo fieri 
solemnius posset, supremum Nostrum judicium proferremus. 

Non mediocri certe solatio affecti fuimus ubi eorumdem Ven- 



Appendix. 257 



erabiliiim Fratrum ad Nos responsa venerunt. Nam iidem in- 
credibili quadam jiicunditate, laetitia, ac studio Nobis rescriben- 
tes non solum singularem suam, et X3roprii cuj usque Cleri, Po- 
pulique fidelis erga Immaculatum beatissimoe Virginis Coucep- 
tum pietatem, mentemque deuuo confirmarunt verum etiam 
commuui veluti voto a Nobis expostularuut, ut Iramacnlata ip- 
sius Yirginis Conceptio supremo Nostro judicio et auctoritate 
definiretur. Nee minori certe interim gaudio perfusi sumus, 
cum W. FF. NN. S. R. E. Cardinales commemorata^ peculiaris 
Congregationis, et prsedicti Theologi Consultores a Nobis electi 
pari alacritate et studio post examen diligeuter adhibitum banc 
de Immaculata Deiparss Conceptione definitionem a Nobis effla- 
gitaverint. 

Post hsec illustribus Prsedecessorum Nostrorum vestigiis in- 
hserentes, ac rite recteque procedere optantes indiximus et ha- 
buimus Consistorium, in quo Venerabiles Fratres Nostros Sanctse 
Romanse Ecclesiys Cardinales alloquuti sumus, eosque summa 
animi Nostri consolatione audivimus a Nobis exposcere, ut dog- 
maticam de Immaculata Deiparse Yirginis Conceptione definiti- 
onem emittere vellemus. 

Itaque plurimum in Domino confisi advenisse temx)orum op- 
portunitatem pro Immaculata sanctissimae Dei Genitricis Virgi- 
nis Marise Conceptione definienda, quam divina eloquia, veneran- 
da traditio, perpetuus Ecclesise sensus, singularis catbolicorum 
Antistitum, ac fidelium conspiratio et insignia Prsedecessorum 
Nostrorum acta, constitutiones mirifice illustrant atque decla- 
rant ; rebus omnibus diligentissime perpensis, et assiduis, fervi- 
disque ad Deum precibus effusis, minime cunctandum Nobis esse 
censuimus supremo Nostro judicio Immaculatam ipsius Virginis 
Conceptionem sancire, definire, atque ita pientissimis catholici 
orbis desideriis, Nostraeque in ipsam sanctissimam Virginem 
pietati satisfacere, ac simul in Ipsa Unigenitum Filium suum 
Dominum Nostrum Jesum Christum magis atque magis honori- 
ficare, cum in Filium redundet quidquid lionoris et laudis in 
Matrem impenditur. 

Quare postquam nunquam intermisimus in humilitate et je- 
junio privatas Nostras et publicas Ecclesiae preces Deo Patri 
per Filium Ejus offerre, ut Spiritus Sancti virtute mentem Nos- 
tram dirigere, et confirmare dignaretur, implorato universse 
cselestis Curiae praesidio, et advocato cum gemitibus Paraclito 
Spirifcu, eoque sic adspirante, ad honorem Sanctae et Individuae 
Trinitatis, ad decus et ornamentum Virginis Deiparae, ad exal- 
tationem Fidei catholicae, et Christianas Religionis augmentum, 
auctoritate Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, beatorum Apostolorum 



258 Appendix. 



Petri, et Paulli, ac Nostra declaramus, pronunciamus et defini- 
mus, doctrinain, quse tenet, beatissimani Yirginem Mariam in 
primo instauti suae CoDceptionis fuisse singular! omnipoteutis 
Dei gratia et privilegio, intuitu meritorum Christ! Jesu Salva- 
toris humani generis, ab omni origiualis culpsB labe praeserva- 
tam !mmunem, esse a Deo revelatam, atque iccirco ab omnibus 
fidelibus firm!ter constanterque credendam. Quapropter si qui 
secus ac a Nobis defimtum est, quod Deus avertat, i^rsesumpse- 
rint corde sentire, ii noverint, ac porro sciant, se proprio judicio 
condemnatos, naufragium circa Mem passos esse, et ab unitate 
Ecclesiae defecisse, ac praeterea facto ipso suo semet poenis a jure 
statutis subjicere s! quod corde sentiunt, verbo aut scripto, vel 
alio quovis externo modo significare aus! fuerint. 

Eepletum quidem est gaudio os Nostrum et lingua Nostra ex- 
ultatioue, atque bumillimas maximasque Cbristo Jesu Domino 
Nostro agimus et semper agemus gratias, quod singular! suo 
beneficio Nobis licet immerentibus concesserit bunc bonorem 
atque banc gloriam et laudem sanctissimae suae Matri offerre et 
decernere. Certissima vero spe et omn! prorsus fiducia nitimur 
fore, ut ipsa beatissima Virgo, quae tota pulcra et immaculata 
venenosum crudelissimi serpentis caput contrivit, et salutem at- 
tulit mundo, quaeque Prophetarum, Apostolorumque praeconlum, 
et honor Martyrum, omniumque Sanctorum laetitia et corona, 
quaeque tutissimum cunctorum periclitantium perfugium, et 
fidissima auxiliatrix, ac totius terrarum orbis potentlssima 
apud Unigenitum Filium suum mediatrix, et conciliatrix, ac 
praeclarissimum Ecclesiae sanctae decus et ornamentum, firmis- 
simumque praesidium cunctas semper interemlt haereses, et fide- 
les populos, gentesque a maximis omuis generis calamitatibus 
eripuit, ac Nos ipsos a tot ingruentibus periculis liberavit ; velit 
validissimo suo patrocinio efficere, nt sancta Mater catholica 
Ecclesia, cunctis amotis dlfficultatibus, cunctisque profligatis 
erroribus, ubicumque gentium, ubicumque locorum quotidie 
magis vigeat, floreat, ac regnet a mar! usque ad mare et a flu- 
mine usque ad termiuos orbis terrarum, omnique pace, tranquil- 
litate, ac libertate fruatur, ut re! veniam, aegri medelam, pusilli 
corde robur, afflict! consolationem, periclitantes adjutorium ob- 
tineant, et omnes errantes discussa mentis caligine ad veritatis 
ac justitiae semitam redeant, ac fiat unum ovile, et unus pastor. 

Audiant haec Nostra verba omnes Nobis carissimi catholicae 
Ecclesiae filii, et ardentior! usque pietatis, religionis, et amoris 
studio pergant colere, invocare, exorare beatissimam Dei Geni- 
tricem Virginem Mariam sine labe original! conceptam, atque 
ad banc dulcissimam misericordiae et gratiae Matrem in omnibus 



Ap]yendix, 259 



pericnlis, angustiis, necessitatibus, rebusque dubiis ac trepidis 
cum omni fiducia confu giant. Nihil enim timendum, niliilqiie 
desperandum Ipsa duce, Ipsa auspice, Ipsa propitia, Ipsa prote- 
gente, quae maternum sane in nos gerens animum, nostrseque 
salutis negotia tractans de universe humano genere est sollicita, 
et caeli, terrseque Regina a Domino constituta ac super omnes 
Angelornm choros Sanctorumque ordines exaltata adstans a 
dextris Unigeniti Filii Sui Domini Nostri Jesu Christi maternis 
suis precibus validissime impetrat, et quod quserit invenit, ac 
frustrari non potest. 

Denique ut ad universalis Ecclesiae notitiam hsec Nostra de 
Immaculata Conceptione beatissimse Virginis Marise definitio 
deducatur, has Apostolicas Nostras Litteras ad perpetuam rei 
memoriam extare voluimus ; mandantes ut harum transumptis, 
sen exemplis etiam impressis, manu alicujus Notarii public! 
subscriptis, et sigillo personse in ecclesiastica dignitate consti- 
tutse munitis eadem prorsus fides ab omnibus adhibeatur, quye 
ipsis prsesentibus adhiberetur, si forent exhibitae, vel ostensse. 

Nalli ergo hominum liceat paginam banc Nostras declaratio- 
nis, pronunciationis, ac defiuitionis infringere, vel ei ausu teme- 
rario adversari et contraire. Si quis autem hoc attentare prae- 
snmpserit, indignationem omnipotentis Dei ac beatorum Petri 
et Paulli Apostolorum ejus se noverint incursurum. 

Datum RomaB apud Sanctnm Petrum Anno Incarnationis 
Dominicae Millesimo octingentesimo quinquagesimo quar- 
to VI Idus Decembris Anno MDCCCLIY. Pontificatus 
Nostri Anno Nono. Pius PP. IX. 

For the real meaning and purport of this dogma we refer to 
Part III., pp. 124-146, and Part IV., pp. 164, 171. 

II. The Encyclical and Syllabus of 1864 are also not the works 
of a council, but a personal act of Pius IX. and the Jesuit ca- 
marilla which surrounds him. Like the definition of the dogma 
of the Immaculate Conception, it is, we are informed, not easi- 
ly obtained, by itself, at Rome. It consists of a querulous jere- 
miad over the wrongs of the Church, and a denunciation of 
what its authors are pleased to style the "principal errors of 
our time," in eighty specifications. In general terms, it may 
be described as a calumnious assault upon the principles of lib- 
erty and progress. Many of the opinions it condemns are not, 
and never were, seriously held ; many of them will not now be 
disowned by any enlightened and conscientious man. 



260 Appendix, 



For the convenience of theologians and moralists, we publish 
this document entire, in its original text, but hardly think the 
general public will care for a translation. We, however, make 
an exception as to § iv., which thus speaks of " socialism, com- 
munism, secret societies, Bible societies, and liberal clerical so- 
cieties :" 

*^ These pests have often been reprobated in the severest 
terms in the encyclical epistle Qui pliiribus ; in the allocution 
Qiiibus quantisquej April 20th, 1849; in the encyclical epistle 
Noscitis et Nohiscumj December 8th, 1849 ; in the allocution Sin- 
gulari quadanij December 9th, 1854 ; in the encyclical epistle 
Qiianto conficiamur mcerore, August 10th, 1863." 

The documents here referred to, and indorsed by Pius IX., 
would fill a volume, and we can only refer to the " Eecueil des 
Allocutions Consistoriales, Encycliques et autre Lettres Apo- 
stoliques ^ ^ * citees dans TEncyclique et le Syllabus du 8 
D^cembre 1864," 1 vol. 8vo, Paris, 1865, often since reprinted, 
which contains them all in the original Latin, with a French 
translation. 

ENCYCLICA PIT IX PONTIFICIS MAXIMI DATA VI ID. DECEMBR. 
A. MDCCCLXIV, PONTIFICATUS SUI XIX. 

Venerdbilibiis Fratribus PatriarcMSj PnmatibuSy Arcliiepiscopis et 
Episcopis Universis Gratiam et Communionem Apostolicce Sedis 
iabentihus Pius PP. IX, 

Venerabiles Fratres, — Salutem et Apostolicam benedic- 
tionem. Quanta cura ac pastoral! vigilantia Roman! Pontifices 
Pra3decessores Nostri exsequentes demand atum sibi ab ipso 
Christo Domino in persona Beatissimi Petri Apostolorum Prin- 
cipis ofificium, munusque pascendi agnos et oves, nunquam in- 
termiserint universum Dominicum gregem sedulo enutrire ver- 
bis fidei, ac salutari doctrina imbuere, eumque ab venenatis pa- 
scuis arcere, omnibus quidem ac Vobis prsesertim compertum 
exploratumque est, Venerabiles Fratres. Et sane iidem Deces- 
sores Nostri augustae catholicse religionis, veritatis ac justitiae 
assertores et vindices, de animarum salute maxime solliciti, ni- 
hil potius unquam habuere, quam sapientissimis suis Litteris et 
Constitutionibus retegere et damnare omnes haereses et erro- 
res qui Divinse Fidei nostrse, catholicae Ecclesiae doctrinae, mo- 
rum honest at i, ac sempiternae hominum saluti adversi graves 
frequenter excitarunt tempest at es, et christianam civilemqu© 



Ajypendix. 261 



rempnblicam miseranduin in modum fimestarunt. Quocirca 
iidem Decessores Nostri Apostolica fortitudiue coutinenter ob- 
stiterunt nefariis iniquorum hominum molitionibus, qui despu- 
mantes tamquam fluctus feri maris confusiones siias, ac liber- 
tatem promittentes, cum servi sint corruption is, fallacibus suis 
opiniouibus et perniciosissimis scriptis catholicsB religionis ci- 
vilisque societatis fundamenta convellere, omnemque virtutem 
ac justitiam de medio tollere, omnium que animos mentesque 
deprayare, et incautos imperitamque prsesertim juventutem a 
recta morum disciplina avertere, eamque miserabiliter corrum- 
pere, in erroris laqueos iuducere, ac tandem ab Ecclesii© catho- 
licsB sinu avellere conati sunt. 

Jam yero, nti Vobis, Venerabiles Fratres, apprime notum est, 
Nos yix dum arcano divinae Providentise consilio, nullis certe 
Nostris meritis, ad banc Petri Cathedram eyecti fuimus, cum 
yideremus summo animi Nostri dolore borribilem sane procel- 
1am. tot pray is opinionibus excitatam, et grayissima ac nun- 
quam satis lugenda damna, quae in cbristianum populum ex 
tot erroribus redundant, pro Apostolici Nostri Ministerii officio 
illustria Prsedecessorum Nostrorum yestigia sectantes Nostram 
extulimus yocem, ac pluribus in yulgus editis Encyclicis Epi- 
stolis et AUocutionibns in Consist orio babitis, aliisque Aposto- 
licis Litteris prsecipuos tristissimse nostras setatis errores dam- 
nayimus, eximiamque yestram episcopalem yigilantiam excita- 
yimus, et nniyersos catbolicse Ecclesise Nobis carissimos filios 
etiam atque etiam monuimus et exbortati sumus, ut tam dirse 
contagia pestis omnino borrerent et deyitarent. Ac prsesertim 
Nostra prima Encyclica Epistola die 9 Noy embris anna 1846 Yo- 
bis scripta, binisque Allocutionibus, quarum altera die 9 Decem- 
bris anno 1854, altera yero 9 Junii anno 1862 in Consistorio a 
nobis babita fuit, monstrosa o]pinionum portenta damnayimus, 
qu8B bac potissimum setate cum maximo animarum damno, et 
civilis ipsius societatis detrimento dominantur, quseque non so- 
lum catbolicsB EcclesiaB,ej usque salutari doctrinse ac yeneran- 
dis juribus, yerum etiam sempiternae natural! legi a Deo in om- 
nium cordibus insculptse rectsequse ration! maxim e adyersan- 
tur, et ex quibus alii prope omnes originem babent errores. 

Etsi autem baud omiserimus potissimos bujusmodi errores 
ssepe proscribere et reprobare, tamen catbolicse Ecclesise causa, 
animarnmque salus Nobis diyinitus commissa, atqne ipsius bu- 
manse societatis bonum omnino postulant, nt iterum pastora- 
lem yestram sollicitudinem excitemus ad alias pravas profli- 
gandas opiniones, quae ex eisdem erroribus, yeluti ex fontibus 
erumpunt. Quae falsae ac peryersae opiniones eo magis dete- 



262 Appendix. 



standee sunt, qnod eo potissimum spectant, ufc impediatiir et 
amoveatur salutaris ilia vis, quam catholica Ecclesia ex divini 
sui Auctoris institutione et mandato libere exercere debet usque 
ad cousummationem sseculi non minus erga singulos homines, 
quam erga nationes, populos, summosque eorum Principes, ut- 
que de medio tollatur mutua ilia inter Sacerdotium et Imperi- 
um consiliorum societas et concordia, quse rei cum sacrae tum 
civili fausta semper extitit ac salutaris.^ Etenim probe nos- 
citis, Venerabiles Fratres, hoc tempore non paucos reperiri, qui 
civili consortio impium absurdumque naturalismi, uti vocant, 
principium applicantes audent docere, ^^optimam societatis 
publicse rationem, civilemque progressum omnino requirere, ut 
humana societas constituatur et gubernetur, nullo habito ad re- 
ligiouem respectu, ac si ea non existeret, vel saltem nullo facto 
veram inter falsasque religiones discrimiue." Atque contra sa- 
crarum Litterarum, Ecclesiae, sanctorumque Patrum doctrinam, 
asserere non dubitant, " optimam esse conditionem societatis, in 
qua Imperio non agnoscitur officium coercendi sancitis poenis 
violatores catholics© religionis, nisi quatenus pax publica pos- 
tulet.'^ Ex qua omnino falsa socialis regiminis idea hand ti- 
ment erroneam illam fovere opinionem catholicss Ecclesise ani- 
marumque saluti maxime exitialem, a rec. mem. Gregorio XVI 
Prsedecessore Nostro delirammtum appellatam,t nimirum " lib- 
ertatem conscientise et cultuum esse proprium cujuscumque 
hominis jus, quod lege proclamari, et asseri debet in omni recte 
constituta societate, et jus civibus inesse ad omuimodam liber- 
tatem nulla vel ecclesiastica vel civili auctoritate coarctandam, 
quo sues conceptus quoscumque sive voce, sive typis, sive alia i 
ratione palam publiceque manifestare ac declarare valeant." 
Dam vero id temere affirmant, hand cogitant et considerant, 
quod lihertatem perditionist prsedicant, et quod " si humanis per- 
suasionibus semper disceptare sit liberum, numquam deesse po- 
terunt, qui veritati audeant resultare, et de human se sapientise 
loquacitate confidere, cum banc nocentissimam vanitatem quan- 
tum debeat fides et sapientia Christiana vitare, ex ipsa Domini 
Nostri Jesu Christi institutione cognoscat."§ 

Et quoniam ubi a civili societate fuit amota religio, ac repu- 
diata divinse revelationis doctrina et auctoritas, vel ipsa ger- 
mana justitiss humanique juris notio tenebris obscuratur et 
amittitur, atque in verae justitise legitimique juris locum mate- 
rialis substituitur vis, inde liquet cur nonnuUi, certissimis sa- 

* Gre^or. XVI, Epist. Encycl. Mirari, 15 Aug. 1S32. 

t Eadera Encycl. Mirari. t S. Aug., Epist. 105, al. 166. 

§ S. Leo Epist. 164, al. 133, § 2 edit. Ball. 



Appendix. 263 



nae rationis principiis penitus neglectis posthabitisque, audeant 
conclamare, " voluutatem populi, publica, quam dicunt, opinioDe 
Yel alia ratioiie manifest at am, constituere supremam legem ab 
omni divino bumauoque jure solutam,et in ordine politico facta 
consummata, eo ipso quod consummata sunt vim juris habere." 
Verum ecquis non videt, planeque sentit, bominum societatem 
religionis ac verse justitise vinculis solutam nullum aliud pro- 
fecto propositum habere posse, nisi scopum comparaudi, cumu- 
landique opes, nullamque aliam in suis actionibus legem sequi, 
nisi indomitam animi cupiditatem inserviendi propriis volupta- 
tibus et commodis ? Eapropter bujusmodi homines acerbo sane 
odio insectantur Religiosas Familias, quam vis de re Christiana, 
civili, ac litteraria summopere meritas, et blaterant, easdem nul- 
1am habere legitimam existendi rationem, atque ita hseretico- 
rum commentis plaudunt. Nam, ut sapientissime rec. mem. 
Pius VI Decessor noster docebat, " regularium abolitio Isedit sta- 
tum publicse professionis consiliorum evangelicorum, Isedit Vi- 
vendi rationem in Ecclesia commendatam tamquam Apostoli- 
C8e doctrinse consentaneam, Isedit ipsos insignes fundatores, quos 
super altaribus veneramur, qui nonnisi a Deo inspirati eas con- 
stituerunt societates.^^* Atque etiam irapie pronunciant, aufe- 
rendam esse civibus et Ecclesise facultatem " qua eleeraosynas 
christianse caritatis causa palam erogare valeaut," ac de medio 
tollendam legem "qua certis aliquibus diebus opera servilia 
propter Dei cultum prohibentur," fallacissime prsetexentes, com- 
memoratam facultatem et legem optimse publicse oeconomise 
principiis obsistere. Neque contenti amovere religionem a pu- 
blica societate, volunt religionem ipsam a privatis etiam arcere 
familiis. Etenim, fuuestissimum Commiinismi et Socialismi do- 
centes ac profitentes errorem, asserunt " societatem domesticam 
seu familiam totam suse existentise rationem a jure dumtaxat 
civili mutuari ; proindeque ex lege tantum civili dimanare ac 
pendere jura omnia parentum in filios, cum primis vero jus in- 
stitutionis educationisque curandse." Quibus impiis opinioni- 
bus machinationibusque in id prsecipue intendunt fallacissimi 
isti homines, ut salutifera catholicse Ecclesise doctrina ac vis a 
juventutis institutione et educatione prorsus eliminetur, ac te- 
neri flexibilesque juvenum animi perniciosis quibusque errori- 
bus, vitiisque misers injSciantur ac depraventur. Siquidem 
omnes, qui rem tum sacram, tum publicam perturbare, ac rec- 
tum societatis ordinem evertere, et jura omnia divina et huma- 
na delere sunt conati, omnia nefaria sua consilia studia et ope- 

* Epist ad Card. De la Rochefoucault, 10 Mart. 1T91. 



264 Appendix. 



ram in improvidam prsesertim juventutem decipiendam ac de- 
pravandara, ut supra inimimus, semper contulerunt, omnemque 
spem in ipsius juventutis corruptela collocarunt. Quocirca 
nuuquam cessant ntrumque clerum, ex quo, veluti certissima 
liistorise monumcnta splendide testantur, tot magna in chris- 
tianam, civil em et litterariam rempublicam commoda redunda- 
runt, quibuscumque infandis modis divexare, et edicere, ipsum 
Clerum, " utpote vero utilique scientiae et civilitatis progressui 
inimicum, ab omni juventutis instituendae educandaeque cura et 
officio esse amoVendum.^' 

At vero alii, instaurantes prava ac toties damnata novato- 
rum commenta, insigni impudentia audent, Ecclesiae et hujus 
Apostolicse Sedis supremam auctoritatem, a Christo Domino el 
tributam, civilis auctoritatis arbitrio subjicere, et omnia ejus- 
dem Ecclesiae et Sedis jura denegare circa ea quae ad exterio- 
rem ordinem pertinent. Nam que ipsos minime pudet affirm are 
^^ Ecclesiae leges non obligare in conscientia, nisi cum promul- 
gantur a civili potestate ; acta et decreta Romanorum Pontifi- 
cum ad religionem et Ecclesiam spectantia indigere sanctione 
et approbatione, vel minimum assensu potestatis civilis ; Con- 
stitutiones Apostolicas,* quibus damnantur clandestinae socie- 
tates, sive in eis exigatur sive non exigatur juramentum de 
secreto servando, earumque asseclae et fautores anatbemate 
mulctantur, nullam habere vim in illis orbis regionibus ubi 
ejusmodi aggregationes tolerantur a civili Gubernio ; excom- 
municationem a Concilio Tridentino et Romanis Pontificibus 
latam in eos, qui jura possessionesque Ecclesiae invadunt, et 
usurpant, niti confusione ordinis siiiritualis ordinisque civilis 
ac politic! ad mundanum dumtaxat bonum prosequendum ; Ec- 
clesiam nihil debere decernere, quod obstringere possit fidelium 
conscientias in ordine ad usum rerum temporalium; Ecclesiae 
jus non competere violatores legum suarum poenis temporali- 
bus coercendi ; conforme esse sacrae theologiae, jurisque publici 
principiis, bonorum proprietatem, quae ab Ecclesiis, a Familiis 
religiosis, aliisque locis piis possidentur, civili Gubernio asse- 
rere, et vindicare." Neque erubescunt palam publiceque pro- 
fiteri haereticorum effatum et principium, ex quo tot perversa© 
oriuntur sententiae atque errores. Dictitant enim "Ecclesi- 
asticam potestatem non esse jure divino distinctam et inde- 
pendentem a potestate civili, neque ejusmodi distinction em et 
independentiam servari posse, quin ab Ecclesia invadantur et 

* Clement. XII, Tn eminenti; Benedict. XIV, providas Romanorum; Pii VII, 
Ecclesiam; Leonis. XII, Quograviora, 



Ax>2^endix, 265 



usurpeutur essentialia jura potestatis civilis." At que silentio 
prseterire non possumus eorum audaciam, qui sanam non susti- 
nentes doctrinam conteudunt ^^illis Apostolicse Sedis judiciis 
et decretis, quorum objectum ad bonum generale Ecclesiye, ejus- 
demque jura, ac discipliuam spectare declaratur, dummodo 
fidei morumque dogmata non attingat, posse assensum et obedi- 
entiara detrectari absque peccato, et absque uUa catholicie pro- 
fessionis jactura/' Quod quidem quantopere adversetur catho- 
lico dogmati plense potestatis Komano Pontifici ab ipso Chris- 
to Domino divinitus collatsB universalem pascendi, regendi, et 
gubernandi Ecclesiam, nemo est qui non clare aperteque videat 
et intelligat. 

In tanta igitur depravatarnm opinionum perversitate, Nos 
Apostolici Nostri ofScii probe memores, ac de sanctissima nostra 
religione, de sana doctrina et animarum salute Nobis divinitus 
commissa, ac de ipsius hnmanse societatis bono maxime sollici- 
ti, Apostolicam Nostram vocem iterum extollere existimavimus. 
Itaque omnes et singi^as pravas opiniones ac doctrinas, singil- 
latim hisce Litteris commemoratas, aiictoritate Nostra Apostoli- 
ca reprobamus, proscribimus atque damnamus, easque ab omni- 
bus catholicse Ecclesise filiis yeluti reprobatas, proscriptas atque 
damnatas omnino haberi volumus et mandamus. 

Ac prseter ea, optime scitis, Venerabiles Fratres, hisce tem- 
poribus omnis veritatis justitiseque osores, et acerrimos nostra© 
religionis hostes, per pestiferos libros, libellos et ephemerides 
toto terrarum orbe dispersas populis illudentes, ac malitiose 
mentientes, alias impias quasque disseminare doctriuas. Neque 
ignoratis, hac etiam nostra aetate, nonnuUos reperiri, qui, satansa 
spiritu permoti et incitati, eo impietatis deyenerunt, ut Domi- 
natorem Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum negare, ej usque Di- 
vinitatem scelerata procacitate oppugnare non paveant. Hie 
vero baud possumus, quin maximis meritisque laudibus Yos 
efferamus, Venerabiles Fratres, qui episcopalem vestram Yocem 
contra tantam impietatem omni zelo attollere minime omisistis. 

Itaque hisce Nostris Litteris Vos iterum amantissime allo- 
quimur, qui in sollicitudinis Nostrse partem vocati summo Nobis 
inter maximas Nostras acerbitates solatio, Isetitise et consola- 
tioni estis propter egregiam qua prsestatis religionem, pietatem, 
ac propter mirum ilium amorem, fidem et observantiam, qua 
Nobis et huic Apostolicse Sedi concordissimis animis obstricti 
gravissimum episcopale vestrum ministerium strenue ac sedulo 
implere contenditis. Etenim ab eximio vestro pastorali zelo 
expectamus, ut assumentes gladium spiritus, quod est verbum 
Dei, et confortati in gratia Domini Nostri Jesu Christi velitis 

12 



266 Appendix. 



ingemiDatis studiis quotidie magis prospicere, nt fideles curse 
vestrse concrediti ^^ abstineant ab herbis noxiis, quas Jesus Chris- 
tus uon colit, quia non sunt plantatio Patris."* Atque eisdem 
fidelibus inculcare nunquam desiuite, omnem veram felicita- 
tem in homines ex augusta nostra religione, ej usque doctrina 
et exercitio redundare, ac beatum esse populum, cujus Dominus 
Deus ejus.t Docete "catholicse Fidei fundamento regna sub- 
sistere,t et nihil tarn mortiferum, tam prseceps ad casum, tam 
expositum ad omnia pericula, si hoc solum nobis putantes posse 
sufficere, quod liberum arbitrium, cum nasceremur, accepimus, 
ultra jam a Domino nihil qugeramus, idest, auctoris nostri obli- 
ti, ejus potentiam, ut nos ostcudamus liberos, abjuremus.§ At- 
que etiam ne omittatis docere regiam potestatem non ad solum 
mundi regimen, sed maxime ad Ecclesise prsesidium esse colla- 
tam,|| et nihil esse quod civitatum Principibus et Regibus majori 
fructui gloriseque esse possit, quam si, ut sapientissimus fortis- 
simusque alter Praedecessor Noster S. Felix Zenoni Imperatori 

perscribebat, Ecclesiam catholicam sinant uti legibus suis, 

nee libertati ejus quemquam permittant obsistere Certum 

est euim, hoc rebus suis esse salutare, ut, cum de causis Dei 
agatur, juxta ipsius constitutum regiam voluntatem Sacerdo- 
tibus Christi studeant subdere, non prseferre.^H 

Sed si semper, Venerabiles Fratres, nunc potissimum in tan- 
tis Ecclesise civilisque societatis calamitatibus, in tanta adver- 
sariorum contra rem catholicam et banc Apostolicam Sedem 
conspiratione, tantaque errorum congerie, necesse omnino est, 
ut adeamus cum fiducia ad thronum gratise, ut misericordiam 
consequamur, et gratiam inveniamus in auxilio opportuno. 
Quocirca omnium fidelium pietatem excitare existimavimus, ut 
una Nobiscum Yobisque clementissimum luminum et misericor- 
diarum Patrem f erven tissi mis humillimisque precibus sine in- 
termissione orent et obsecrent, et in plenitudine fidei semper 
confugiant ad Dominum Nostrum Jesum Christum, qui redemifc 
nos Deo in sanguine suo, Ejusque dulcissimum Cor flagrantis- 
simsB erga nos caritatis victimam enixe jugiterque exoreut, ut 
amoris sui yinculis omnia ad seipsum trahat, utque omnes ho- 
mines sanctissimo suo amore inflammati secundum Cor Ejus 
ambulent digne Deo per omnia placentes, in omni bono opere 
fructificantes. Cum autem sine dubio gratiores sint Deo homi- 

* S. Ignatius M. ad Philadelph., 3. t Psal. 143. 

t S. Coelest., epist. 22 ad Synod. Ephes., apud Const., p. 1200. 

§ Innocent I, epist. 29 ad Episc. Cone. Carthag., apud Const., p. 891. 

11 S. Leo, epist. 156, al. 125. 

1[ Pius VII, Epist. Encycl. Diu satis, 15 Maii 1800. 



Ajjpendix. 267 



num preceS; si animis ab omni labe puris ad ipsum accedant, 
iccirco ccelestes Ecclesise thesauros dispensationi Nostrse com- 
missos Cliristifidelibus Apostolica liberalitate reserare ceusui- 
mus, ut iidem fideles ad veram pietatem vehementins incensi, 
ac per Pceuitentiae Sacramentum a peccatoruin maculis expiati 
fidentius suas preces ad Deum effundaiit, ej usque misericordiam 
et gratiam consequautur. 

Hisce igitur Litteris auctoritate Nostra Apostolica omnibus 
et singulis utriusque sexus catholic! orbis fidelibus Plenariam 
Indulgentiam ad instar Jubilaei concedimus intra unius tantum 
mensis spatium usque ad totum futurum annum 1865 et non 
ultra, a Vobis, Venerabiles Fratres, aliisque legitimis locorum 
Ordinariis statuendum, eodem prorsus modo et forma, qua ab 
initio supremi Nostri Pontificatus concessimus per Apostolicas 
Nostras Litteras in forma Brevis die 20 mensis Novembris anno 
1846 datas, et ad universum episcopalem vestrum Ordinem mis- 
sas, quarum initium "Arcano divinsB Providentise consilio," et 
cum omnibus eisdem facultatibus, quae per ipsas Litteras a No- 
bis datse fuerunt. Volumus tameu, ut ea omnia serventur, quae 
in commemoratis Litteris prsescripta sunt, et ea excipiautur, 
qu9B excepta esse declaravimus. Atque id concedimus, non ob- 
stantibus in contrarium facientibus quibuscumque, etiam spe- 
cial! et iudividua mentione ac derogatione dignis. Ut autem 
omnis dubitatio et difficultas amoveatur, earumdem Litterarum 
exemplar ad Vos perferri jussimus. 

*' Rogemus, Venerabiles Fratres, de intimo corde et de tota 
mente misericordiam Dei, quia et ipse addidit dicens : Miseri- 
cordiam autem meam non dispergam ab eis. Petamus et acci- 
piemus, et si accipiendi mora et tarditas fuerit, quoniam graviter 
offendimus, pulsemus, quia et pulsanti aperietur, si modo pul- 
sent ostium preces, gemitus et lacrimse nostrse, quibus insistere 

et immorari oportet, et si sit unanimis oratio unusquisque 

oret Deum non pro se tantum, sed pro omnibus fratribus, sicut 
Dominus orare nos docuit."* Quo vero facilius Deus Nostris, 
Yestrisque, et omnium fidelium precibus, votisque annuat, cum 
omni fiducia deprecatricem apud Eum adhibeamus Immacula- 
tam sanctissimamque Deiparam Yirginem Mariam, quae cunc- 
tas hsereses interemit in universo mundo, quseque omnium no- 
strum amantissima Mater "tota suayis est ac plena miseri- 

cordise, omnibus sese exorabilem, omnibus clementissimam 

praebet, omnium necessitates amplissimo quodam miseratur af- 
fectu,"t atque utpote Regina adstans a dextris Unigeniti Filii 

* S. Cyprian., epist. 11. 

t S. Bernard., Serm. de duodecim praerogativis B. M. V. ex verl)is Apocalyp. 



268 Appe7idix, 



Sui Domini Nostri Jesu Christi in vestitu deaurato, circuma- 
micta varietate, nihil est, quod ab Eo impetrare non valeat. 
Siiffragia quoque petamus Beatissimi Petri Apostolorum Prin- 
cipis, et Coapostoli ejus Pauli, omnium que Sanctorum Cselitum, 
qui facti jam amici Dei pervenerunt ad cselestia regua, et coro- 
nati possident palmam, ac de sua immortalitate securi, de no- 
stra sunt salute solliciti. 

Denique ccelestium omnium donorum copia Yobis a Deo ex 
animo adprecantes singularis Nostrse in Vos caritatis pignus 
Apostolicam Benedictionem ex intimo corde profectam vobis ip- 
sis, Venerabiles Fratres, cunctisque Clericis, Laicisque fidelibus 
curse vestrse commissis peramanter impertimus. 

Datum Romee apud S. Petrum, die viii Decembris anno 
1864, decimo a Dogmatica Definitione ImmaculatsB Con- 
ception! s Deiparse Virginis Marias. Pontificatus Nostri 
anno decimonono. 

Pius PP. IX. 



SYLLABUS COMPLECTENS PR^CIPUOS NOSTRA ^TATIS ERRO- 
RES, QUI NOTANTUR IN ALLOCUTIONIBUS CONSISTORIALIBUS, 
IN ENCYCLICIS ALHSQ. APOSTOLICIS LITTERIS SANCTISSIMI 
DOMINI NOSTRI PII PAP^ IX. 

5 1. Pantheismus, Naturalismus et Eationalismus Abso- 

LUTUS. 

(1.) Nullum supremum, sapientissimum, proYidentissimum- 
que Numen divinum existit ab bac rerum universitate distinc- 
tum, et Deus idem est ac rerum natura, et iccirco immutationi- 
bus obnoxiuS; Deusque reapse fit in bomine et mundo, atque 
omnia Deus sunt et ipsissimam Dei babent substantiam; ac 
una eademque res est Deus cum mundo, et proinde spiritus cum 
materia, necessitas cum libertate, Verum cum falso, bonum cum 
malo et justum cum injusto. 

Alloc. Maxima qiddem, 9 Junii 1862. 

(2.) Neganda est omnis Dei actio in bomines et muudum. 

Alloc. Maxima quidem, 9 Junii 1862. 

(3.) Humana ratio, nullo prorsus Dei respectu babito, unicus 
est veri et falsi, boni et mali arbiter, sibi ipsi est lex et natura- 
libus suis viribus ad bominum ac populorum bonum curandum 
sufficit. 

Alloc. Maxima quidem, 9 Junii 1862. 

(4.) Omnes religionis veritates ex nativa bumanse rationis tI 
derivant ', bine ratio est princeps norma qua bomo cognitionem 



Ap2:>endix. 269 



omnium cujuscumque generis veritatum assequi possit ac de- 
beat. 

Epist. Encycl. Qui pluribuSj 9 Novembris 1846. 

Epist. Encycl. Singulari quidem, 17 Martii 1856. 

Alloc. Maxima quidem, 9 Junii 1862. 

(5.) Divina revelatio est imperfecta, et iccirco snbjecta con- 
tinue et indefinite progressui qui bumanse rationis progressioni 
respondeat. 

Epist. Encycl. Qui plurihtiSj 9 Novembris 1846. 

Alloc. Maxima quidem^ 9 Junii 1862. 

(6.) Cbristi fides bumanse refragatur rationi ; divinaque re- 
velatio, non solum nibil prodest, verum etiam nocet bominis per- 
fection!. 

Epist. Encycl. Qui plurihuSy 9 Novembris 1846. 

Alloc. Maxima quidem, 9 Junii 1862. 

(7.) Propbetige et miracula, in sacris Litteris exposita et nar- 
rata, sunt poetarum commenta, et cbristianae fidei mysteria 
pbilosopbicarum investigation um summa; et utriusque Testa- 
menti libris mytbica continentur inventa, ipseque Jesus Cbris- 
tus est mytbica fictio. 

Epist. Encycl. Qui plurihus, 9 Novembris 1846. 

Alloc. Maxima quidem^ 9 Junii 1862. 

§ II. Eatioxalismus Moderatus. 

(8.) Quum ratio bumana ipsi religioni sequiparetur, iccirco 
tbeologicse disciplines perinde ac pbilosopbicse tractandse sunt. 

Alloc. Singulari quadam perfusij 9 Decembris 1854. 

(9.) Omnia indiscriminatim dogmata religionis cbristianse 
sunt objectum naturalis scientiae sen pbilosopbiae ; et bumana 
ratio bistorice tantum exculta potest ex suis naturalibus viri- 
bus et principiis ad veram de omnibus etiam reconditioribus 
dogmatibus scientiam pervenire, modo bsec dogmata ipsi rationi 
tamquam objectum proposita fuerint. 

Epist. ad Arcbiep. Frising. Gravissimas, 11 Decembris 1862. 

Epist. ad eumdem Tuas libenter, 21 Decembris 1863. 

(10.) Quum aliud sit pbilosopbus, aliud pbilosopbia, ille jus 
et ofificium babet se submittendi auctoritati, quam veram ipse 
probaverit ; at pbilosopbia neque potest neque debet ulli sese 
submittere auctoritati. 

Epist. ad Arcbiep. Frising. Gravissimas, 11 Decembris 1862. 

Epist. ad eumdem Tuas libenter, 21 Decembris 1863. 

(11.) Ecclesia non solum non debet in pbilosopbiam unquam 
animadvertere, verum etiam debet ipsius pbilosopbiae tolerare 
erroreS; eique relinquere ut ipsa se corrigat. 



270 Apjjendix. 



Epist. ad Archiep. Frising. Gravissimas, 11 Decembris 1862. 

(12.) ApostolicsB Sedis romanarumqne CoDgregationum de- 
creta liberum scientise progressum impediuut. 

Epist. ad Arcliiep. Frising. Tuas Uhente7% 21 Decembris 1863. 

(13.) Methodiis et principia, quibus antiqui Doctores scbolas- 
tici tbeologiam excolueriint, temporum nostrorum necessitatibus 
scieutiar unique iirogressni minime congruuut. 

Epist. ad Arcbiep. Frising. Tuas lihenterj 21 Decembris 1863. 

(14.) Pbilosopbia tractanda est, nulla supernaturalis revela- 
tionis babita ratione. 

Epist. ad Arcbiep. Frising. Tuas lihenterj 21 Decembris 1863. 

N.B. — Cum rationalismi systemate cobserent maximam par- 
tem errores Antonii Giintber, qui damnantur in Epist. ad Card. 
Arcbiep. Coloniensem Uximiam tuaniy 15 Junii 1847, et in Epist.. 
ad Episc. Wratislaviensem Bolore haud mediocri, 30 Aprilis 1860. 

§ III. Indifferentismus, Latitudinarismus. 

(15.) Liberum cuique homini est eam amplecti ac profiteri 
religionem, quam rationis lumine quis ductus veram putaverit. 

Litt. Apost. Multiplices inter, 10 Junii 1851. 

Alloc. Maxima quidem, 9 Junii 1862. 

(16.) Homines in cujusvis religionis cultu viam seternse salu- 
tis reperire seternamque salutem assequi possunt. 

Epist. Encycl. Qui plurihus, 9 Novembris 1846. 

Alloc. TJVi primum, 17 Decembris 1847. 

Epist. Encycl. SinguJari quidein, 17 Martii 1856. 

(17.) Saltem bene sperandum est de seterna illorum omnium 
salute, qui in vera Cbristi Ecclesia nequaquam versantur. 

Alloc. SinguJari quadam, 9 Decembris 1854. 

Epist. Encycl. Quanta couficiamurj 17 Augusti 1863. 

(18.) Protestantismus non aliud est quam di versa verse ejus- 
dem cbristianse religionis forma, in qua seque ac in Ecclesia 
catbolica Deo placere datum est. 

Epist. Encycl. Noscitis et JS^oUscumj 8 Decembris 1849. 

5 IV. SOCIALISMUS, COMMUXISMUS, SOCIETATES CLANDESTINE, 
SOCIETATES BiBLICE, SOCIETATES ClEEICO-LIBERALES. 

Ejusmodi pestes ssepe gravissimisque verborum formulis re- 
probantur in Epist. Encycl. Qui plurihns, 9 Novembris 1846 ; in 
Alloc. Quibus quantisque, 20 Aprilis 1849 ; in Epist. Encycl. No- 
scitis et XoUscunij 8 Decembris 1849 ; in Alloc. Singulari quadam, 9 
Decembris 1854 ; in Epist. Encycl. Quanta conficiamur nicei'ore, 10 
Augusti 1863. 



Appendix. 271 



§ V. Errores de Ecclesia ejusque Juribus. 

(19.) Ecclesia non est vera perfectaque societas plane libera, 
nee pollet suis propriis et constantibus juribus sibi a divino suo 
fundatore collatis, sed civilis potestatis est defiuire quae sint 
Ecclesise jura ac limites, intra quos eadem jura exercere queat. 

Alloc. Singulari qiiadarrij 9 Decembris 1854. 

Alloc. Midtis gravibusquey 17 Decembris 1860. 

Alloc. Maxima quidem, 9 Junii 1862. 

(20.) Ecclesiastica potestas suam auctoritatem exercere non 
debet absque civilis Guberuii venia et assensu. 

Alloc. Meniinit unusquisquej 30 Septembris 1861. 

(21.) Ecclesia non babet potestatem dogmatice definiendi re- 
ligionem catholicse Ecclesise esse nnice veram religionem. 

Litt. Apost. MultipUces inter, 10 Junii 1851. 

(22.) Obligatio, qua catbolici magistri et scriptores oranino 
adstringuntur, coarctatur in iis tantum, quae ab infallibili Ec- 
clesise judicio veluti fidei dogmata ab omnibus credenda pro- 
ponuntur. 

Epist. ad Arcbiep. Frising. Tuas Vihenter, 21 Decembris 1863. 

(23.) Romani Pontifices et Concilia cecumenica a limitibus 
snsB potestatis recesserunt, jura Principum usurparunt, atque 
etiam in rebus fidei et morum definiendi s errarunt. 

Litt. Apost. Multiplices inter j 10 Junii 1851. 

(24.) Ecclesia vis inferendse potestatem nonbabet, neque po- 
testatem ullam temporalem directam vel indirectam. 

Litt. Apost. Ad Aj>ostolicce, 22 Augusti 1851. 

(25.) Prseter potestatem episcopatui inbserentem, alia est at- 
tributa temporalis potestas a civili imperio vel expresse vel ta- 
cite concessa, revocanda propterea, cum libuerit, a civili imperio. 

Litt. Apost. Ad Apostolicce, 22 Augusti 1851. 

(26.) Ecclesia non babet nativum ac legitimum jus acquiren- 
di ac possidendi. 

Alloc. Nunquam fore, 15 Decembris 1856. 

Epist. Encycl. Incredibili, 17 Septembris 1863. 

(27.) Sacri Ecclesise ministri Romanusque Pontifex ab omni 
rerum temporalium cura ac dominio sunt omnino excludendi. 

Alloc. Maxima quidem, 9 Junii 1862. 

(28.) Episcopis, sine Gubernii venia, fas non est vel ipsas 
Apostolic as Litteras promulgare. 

Alloc. Nunquam fore, 15 Decembris 1856. 

(29.) Gratise a Romano Pontifice concessse existimari debeut 
tamquam irritae, nisi per Gubernium fuerint imploratse. 

Alloc. Nunqiiam fore, 15 Decembris 1856. 



272 Appendix. 



(30.) EcclesisB et personarum ecclesiasticarum immunitas a 
jure civili ortum habuit. 

Litt. Apost. Multijplices inters 10 Junii 1851. 

(31.) Ecclesiasticum forum pro teruporalibus clericorum cau- 
sis sive civilibus sive criminalibus omuino de medio tollendum 
est, etiam inconsulta et reclamante Apostolica Sede. 

Alloc. Acerhissimum, 27 Septembris 1852. 

Alloc. Nimquam fore, 15 Decembris 1856. 

(32.) Absque ulla iiaturalis juris et sequitatis violatioue po- 
test abrogari personalis immunitas, qua clerici ab onere sube- 
undge exercendseque militiae eximuntur; banc vero abrogatio- 
nem postulat civilis progressus, maxime in societate ad formam 
liberioris regiminis constituta. 

Epist. ad Episc. Montisregal. Singularis Ndhisqiie, 29 Septem- 
bris 1864. 

(33.) Non pertinet unice ad ecclesiasticam jurisdictionis po- 
testatem proprio ac nativo jure dirigere theologicarum rerum 
doctrinam. 

Epist. ad Arcbiep. Frising. Tuas libenteVy 21 Decembris 1863. 

(34.) Doctrina comparantium Romanum Pontificem Principi 
libero, et agenti in universa Ecclesia, doctrina est quae medio 
sevo praevaluit. 

Litt. Apost. Ad Apostolicm, 22 August! 1851. 

(35.) Nibil Yetat, alicujus Concilii generalis sententia aut uni- 
versorum populorum facto, summum Poutificatum ab Romano 
Episcopo atque urbe ad alium Episcopum aliamque civitatem 
transferri. 

Litt. Apost. Ad ApostoUccBy 22 August! 1851. 

(36.) Nationalis Concilii definitio nullam aliam admittit dis- 
putationem, civilisque administratio rem ad bosce terminos exi- 
gere potest. 

Litt. Apost. Ad AjmstoUcw, 22 August! 1851. 

(37.) Institui possunt nationales Ecclesise ab auctoritate Ro- 
man! Pontificis subductse planeque divisce. 

Alloc. Miiltis gravihusque, 17 Decembris 1860. 

Alloc. Jamdudum cernimus, 18 Marti! 1861. 

(38.) Division! Ecclesii© in orientalem atque occidentalem ni- 
mia Romanorum Poutificum arbitria contulerunt. 

Litt. Apost. Ad ApostoliccBy 22 Augusti 1851. 

§ 6. Errores de Societate Civili tum in se, tum in suis 

AD ECCLESIAM ReLATIONIBUS SpECTATA. 

(39.) Reipublicse status, utpote omnium jurium origo et fons, 
jure quodam poUet nullis circumscripto limitibus. 



Appendix. 273 



Alloc. Maxima quidenij 9 Junii 1862. 

(40.) Catholicse Ecclesise doctrina humause societatis bono et 
commodis adversatur. 

Epist. Encycl. Qui plurihus, 9 Novembris 1846. 

Alloc. Quihus qiiantisque, 20 Aprilis 1849. 

(41.) Civili potestati, vel ab infideli imperante exercitse, corn- 
petit potestas indirecta negativa in sacra; eidem proinde corn- 
petit nedum jus quod vocant Exequatur y sed etiam jus aj[>pellatio- 
niSj quam nuncupant, ad ahusu. 

Litt. Apost. Ad ApostoUcce, 22 August! 1851. 

(42.) In conflictu legum utriusque potestatisjus civile prse- 
valet. 

Litt. Apost. Ad ApostoliccB, 22 Augusti 1851. 

(43.) Laica potestas auctoritatem habet rescindeudi, declaran- 
di ac faciendi irritas solemnes conventiones (vulgo Concordata) 
super usu jurium ad ecclesiasticam immunitatem pertinentium 
cum Sede Apostolica initas, sine bujus consensu, immo et ea re- 
clamante. 

Alloc. In Consistorialij 1 Novembris 1850. 

Alloc. Multis gravihusquej 17 Decembris 1860. 

(44.) Civilis auctoritas potest se immiscere rebus quae ad re- 
ligionem, mores et regimen spirituale pertinent. Hinc potest 
de instructionibus judicare, quas EcclesisB pastores ad conscien- 
tiarum normam pro suo munere edunt, quin etiam potest de di- 
\^inorum sacramentorum administratione et dispositionibus ad 
ea suscipienda necessariis decernere. 

Alloc. In 'Consistoriali, 1 Novembris 1850. 

Alloc. Maxima qtiidmi, 9 Junii 1862. 

(45.) Totum scbolarum publicarum regimen, in quibus juven- 
tus cbristianse alicujus Reipnblicse instituitur, episcopalibus 
dumtaxat seminariis aliqua ratione exceptis, potest ac debet at- 
tribui auctoritati civili, et ita qnidem attribui, ut nullum alii 
cuicnmque auctoritati recognoscatur jus immiscendi se in disci- 
plina scholarum, in regimine studiorum, in graduum collatione, 
in delectu ant approbatione magistrorum. 

Alloc. In Consistoriali, 1 Novembris 1850. 

Alloc. Quihus luctuosissimis, 5 Septembris 1851. 

(46.) Immo in ipsis clericorum semiuariis methodus studiorum 
adbibenda civili auctoritati subjicitur. 

Alloc. Nunquam fore, 15 Decembris 1856. 

(47.) Postulat optima civilis societatis ratio, ut populares 
scbola?, quae patent omnibus cujusque e populo classis pueris, 
ac publica universim Instituta, quselitteris severioribusque dis- 
ciplinis tradendis et educationi juventutis curandae sunt desti- 

12* 



274 A2opendix, 



nata, eximantur ab omni EcclesisB auctoritate, moderatrice vi 
et ingerentia, plenoqae civilis ac politicse auctoritatis arbitrio 
subjiciantur ad imperantium jDlacita et ad communium setati 
opinionum amussim. 

Epist. ad Archiep. Friburg. Qiium non sine, 14 Julii 1864. 

(48.) Catholicis viris probari potest ea juventutis instituen- 
dsd ratio, quae sit a catholica fide et ab Ecclesise potestate se- 
juncta, qnaeque rerum dumtaxat naturalium scientiam ac ter- 
rense socialis vitae fines tantummodo vel saltern primario spectet. 

Epist. ad Arcbiep. Friburg. Quum non sine, 14 Julii 1864. 

(49.) Civilis auctoritas potest impedire quominus sacrorum 
Antistites et fideles populi cum Komano Pontifice libere ac mu- 
tuo communicent. 

Alloc. Maxima quidenij 9 Junii 1862. 

(50.) Laica auctoritas babet per se jus prseseutandi Episco- 
pos, et potest ab illis exigere ut ineant dioecesium procuratio- 
nem antequam ipsi canonicam a S. Sede institutionem et Apo- 
stolicas Litteras accipiant. 

Alloc. JSfunquam fore, 15 Decembris 1856. 

(51.) Immo laicum Gubernium babet jus deponendi ab exer- 
citio pastoralis ministerii Episcopos, neque tenetur obedire Ro- 
mano Pontifici in iis quae episcopatuum et Episcoporum respi- 
ciunt institutionem. 

Litt. Apost. Multiplices inter, 10 Junii 1851. 

Alloc. Acerhissimum^ 27 Septembris 1852. 

(52.) Gubernium potest suo jure immutare £etatem ab Eccle- 
sia praescriptam pro religiosa tam mulierum quam virorura pro- 
fessione, omnibusque religiosis familiis indicere, ut neminem 
sine suo permissu ad solemnia vota nuncupanda admittant. 

Alloc. Nunqiiam fore, 15 Decembris 1856. 

(53.) Abrogandae sunt leges quae ad religiosarum familiarum 
statum tutandum, earumque jura et officia pertinent, immo po- 
test civile Gubernium iis omnibus auxilium praestare, qui a sus- 
cepto religiosae vitae instituto deficere ac solemnia vota fran- 
gere velint; pariterque potest religiosas easdem familras pe- 
rinde ac collegiatas ecclesias et beneficia simplicia, etiam juris 
patronatus, penitus extinguere, illorumque bona et reditus civi- 
lis potestatis administrationi et arbitrio subjicere et vindicare. 

Alloc. AcerUssimum, 27 Septembris 1852. 

Alloc. ProJ)e memineritis, 22 Januarii 1855. 

Alloc. Cum scepe, 26 Julii 1855. 

(54.) Reges et Principes non solum ab Ecclesiae jurisdictione 
eximuntur, verum etiam in quaestionibus jurisdictionis dirimen- 
dis superiores sunt Ecclesiae. 



Appendix, 275 



Litt. Apost. Multiplices inter, 10 Junii 1851. 

(55.) Ecclesia a Statu, Statusque ab Ecclesia sejungendus est. 

Alloc. AcerMssimum, 27 Septembris 1852. 

§ 7. Errores de Ethica Naturali et Christiana. 

(56.) Morum leges divina baud egent sanctione, minimeque 
opus est ut bumansB leges et naturae jus conformentur, aut ob- 
ligandi yim a Deo accipiant. 

Alloc. Maxima quidem, 9 Junii 1862. 

(57.) Pbilosopbicarum rerum moruraque scientia, itemque 
civiles leges possunt et debent a divina et ecclesiastica aucto- 
ritate declinare. 

Alloc. Maxima quidem, 9 Junii 1862. 

(58.) Aliae vires non sunt agnoscendse nisi illse quse in mate- 
ria positse sunt, et omnis morum disciplina bonestasque collo- 
cari debet in cumulandis et augendis quo vis modo divitiis ac in 
voluptatibus explendis. 

Alloc. Maxima quidem, 9 Junii 1862. 

Epist. Encycl. Quanto confidamur, 10 Augusti 1863. 

(59.) Jus in material! facto consistit, et omnia bominum offi- 
cia sunt nomem inane, et omnia bumana facta juris vim babent. 

Alloc. Maxima quidem^ 9 Junii 1862. 

(60.) Auctoritas nibil aliud est nisi numeri et materialium 
virium summa. 

Alloc. Maxima quidem, 9 Junii 1862. 

(61.) Fortunata facti injustitia nullum juris sanctitati detri- 
mentum aifert. 

Alloc. Jamdudum ceimimus, 18 Martii 1861. 

(62.) Proclamandum est et observandum principium quod 
vocant de non-interventu. 

Alloc. Novos et ante, 28 Septembris 1860. 

(63.) Legitimis Principibus obedientiam detrectare, immo et 
rebellare licet. 

Epist. Encycl. Quipluril)us,9 Novembris 1846. 

Alloc. Quisque vestrum, 2 Octobris 1847. 

Epist. Encycl. Noscitis et NoUscum, 8 Decembris 1849. 

Litt. Apost. Gum catJiolica, 26 Martii 1860. 

(64.) Tum cujusque sanctissimi juramenti violatio, tum quoe- 
libet scelesta flagitiosaque actio sempiternae legi repugnans, 
non solum baud est improbanda, verum etiam omnino licita, 
summisque laudibus efferenda, quando id pro patriae amore aga- 
tur. 

Alloc. Quihus quantisquej 20 Aprilis 1849. 



276 Apiyendix. 



§ 8. Errores de Matrimonio Christiano. 

(65.) Nulla ratione ferri potest, Christum evexisse matrimo- 
niuin ad diguitatem sacrameuti. 

Litt. Apost. Ad ApostoliccBj 22 August! 1851. 

(66,) Matrimonii sacramentum non est nisi quid contractui 
accessorium sib eoque separabile, ipsumque sacramentum in 
una tantum nuptiali benedictione situm est. 

Litt. Apost. Ad ApostoUcce, 22 Augusti 1851. 

(67.) Jure naturae matrimonii vinculum non est indissolubile, 
et in variis casibus divortium proprie dictum auctoritate civili 
sanciri potest. 

Litt. Apost. Ad ApostoliccBj 22 Augusti 1851. 

Alloc. Acerhissimum, 27 Septembris 1852. 

(68.) Ecclesia non liabet potestatem impedimenta matrimo- 
nium dirimentia inducendi, sed ea potestas civili auctoritati 
competit, a qua impedimenta existentia tollenda sunt. 

Litt. Apost. Multiplices inter , 10 Junii 1851. 

(69.) Ecclesia sequioribus sseculis dirimentia impedimenta 
inducere coepit, non jure proprio, sed illo jure usa, quod a civili 
potestate mutuata erat. 

Litt. Apost. Ad Aposiolicce, 22 Augusti 1851. 

(70.) Tridentini canones qui anathematis ceusuram illis in- 
ferunt qui facultatem impedimenta dirimentia inducendi Eccle- 
siae negare audeant, vel non sunt dogmatici vel de hac mutua- 
ta potestate intelligendi sunt. 

Litt. Apost. Ad Apostolicce, 22 Augusti 1851. 

(71.) Tridentina forma sub infirmitatis poena non obligat, ubi 
lex civilis aliam formam praestituat, et velit bac nova forma in- 
terveniente matrimonium valere. 

Litt. Apost. Ad ApostolicWy 22 Augusti 1851. 

(72.) Bonifacius YIII votum castitatis in Ordinatione emis- 
sum nuptias nuUas reddere jirimus asseruit. 

Litt. Apost. Ad Apostolicce, 22 Augusti 1851. 

(73.) Vi contractus mere civilis potest inter christianos con- 
stare veri nominis matrimonium ; falsumque est, aut contrac- 
tum matrimonii inter christianos semper esse sacramentum, aut 
nullum esse contractum, si sacramentum excludatur. 

Litt. Apost. Ad Apostolicce, 22 Augusti 1851. 

Lettera di S. S. Pio IX al Rh di Sardegua, 9 Settembre 1852. 

Alloc. AcerUssimum, 27 Septembris 1852. 

Alloc. Multis gravibusqiie, 17 Decembris 1860. 

(74.) Caussae matrimoniales et sponsalia suapte natura ad 
forum civilem pertinent. 



A2^pe7idix, 217 



Litt. Apost. Ad ApostoUcce, 22 August! 1851. 

Alloc. Acerhissimumj 27 Septembris 1852. 

N. B. — Hue facere possunt duo alii errores de clericorum cceli- 
batu abolendo et de statu matrimonii statu! virgiuitatis ante- 
ferendo. Coufodiuntur, prior in Epist. Encycl. Qui plurihus, 9 
Novembris 1846, posterior in Lltteris Apost. Multiplices inter, 10 
Juni! 1851. 

5 9. Errores de Civili Romaxi Poxtificis Prixcipatu. 

(75.) De temporalis regu! cum spiritual! compatibilitate dis- 
putant inter se christiansB et catbolicse Ecclesise filii. 

Litt. Apost. Ad ApostolicWy 22 August! 1851. 

(76.) Abrogatio civilis imperii, quo Apostolica Sedes potitur, 
ad Ecclesiae libertatem felicitatemque vel maxime conduceret. 

Alloc. Quihus quaniisque, 20 Aprilis 1849. 

N.B. — Prseter bos errores explicite notatos, alii complures !m- 
plicite reprobantur proposita et asserta doctriua, quam catbo- 
lici omnes firmissime retinere debeant, de civili Roman! Ponti- 
ficis principatu. Ejusmod! doctrina luculenter traditur in Al- 
loc. Quihus quantisque, 20 Aprilis 1849 ; in Alloc. Si semper anteay 
20 Mai! 1850 ; in Litt. Apost. Cum catholica Ecclesia, 26 Marti! 
1860 ; in Alloc. Xovos, 28 Septembris 1860 ; in Alloc. Jamdudumy 
18 Marti! 1861 ; in Alloc. Maxima quidem, 9 Juni! 1862. 

§ 10. Errores qui ad Liberalismum Hodierxum Referux- 

TUR. 

(77.) ^tate hac nostra non amplius expedit, religionem ca- 
tbolicam baberi tamquam unicam Status religionem, cseteris 
quibuscumque cultibus exclusis. 

Alloc. Nemo vestrumy 26 Jul!! 1855. 

(78.) Hinc laudabiliter in quibusdam catbolici nominis re- 
gionibus lege cautum est ut hominibus illuc immigrantibus li- 
ceat publicum propri! cuj usque cultus exercitium babere. 

Alloc. AcerMssimum, 27 Septembris 1852. 

(79.) Enimvero falsum est, ciyilem cujusque cultus libertatem, 
itemque plenam potestatem omnibus attributam quaslibet opi- 
niones cogitationesquepalam publiceque manifestandi conducere 
ad populorum mores animosque facilius corrumpendos ac indif- 
ferentism! pestem propagandam. 

Alloc. Nunquam fore, 15 Decembris 1856. 

(80.) Romanus Pontifex potest ac debet cum progressu, cum 
liberalismo et cum recent! civilitate sese reconciliare et com- 
ponere. 

Alloc. Jamdudum cernimuSj 18 Marti! 1861. 



278 Ap2yendix. 



III. The importance of the Ecumenical Council of the Vati- 
can — which was intended to work, and indeed has wrought, 
a revolution in the Catholic Church by formally exalting its 
head to the position claimed by it in the Middle Ages, of Deus 
in terris (God upon earth), and at the same time reducing to 
impotence the bishops and inferior clergy, who had so often 
held in check the ambition and arrogance of the papacy — is 
such that a notice of its constitution and action may properly 
be given here by way of illustration of the ground we have 
taken in the text. 

It had been known for some time that Pius IX., stimulated 
by his own ambition and vanity, and incited by the counsels of 
the Jesuits, was disposed to summon an ecumenical, or general, 
council chiefly for the purpose of proclaiming as a dogma, or 
matter of necessary acceptance and belief, the doctrine of the 
personal infallibility of the pope in deciding questions of faith 
and morals. 

It was now three centuries since the last general council 
(that of Trent) had been held. In the mean time the states of 
Catholic Europe had all undergone more or less complete, and 
more or less frequent, revolutions; and there had been many a 
period in all of them when religious discussion had been com- 
paratively free, and when the claims of Rome to ecclesiastical 
supremacy had been thoroughly sifted. As a natural conse- 
quence, the opinions of the Catholic w^orld had become very gen- 
erally unsettled. There was among nominal Catholics a wide- 
spread falling -off from allegiance to the Church; the civil 
powder of Rome, direct and indirect, had been rudely shaken ; 
she had been stripped of many of her usurpations by the legal 
action of various governments ; she had lost a part of the terri- 
tory she had so long occupied by virtue of forged donations or 
forcible conquest ; and she was very seriously threatened with 
the loss of the remainder, including, of course, the last vestige 
of her temporal power. 

Two great measures of relief were proposed : one a humilia- 
tion of the Protestant states on the Continent by a military 
confederation of Catholic states under the hegemony of France ; 
the other an appeal to the prejudices and superstitions of the 
Catholic world, through an imposing array of moral force in the 



Appeiidix, 279 



form of a universal council, composed of all the episcopate 
and certain other high functionaries of the Church throughout 
Christendom. 

The knowledge of the purpose of the Jesuits to avail them- 
selves of the imhecility of Pius IX., who, always weak, had 
now sunk into dotage, to invest the Church with a claim of ir- 
resistihle power, to be wielded in the name of the papacy, but 
for the benefit and through the instrumentality of the Society 
of Jesus, excited great alarm in the sound portion of the Cath- 
olic clergy, and both by appeals to public opinion, among which 
one of the ablest was a warm protest by the Bishop of Orleans 
in the form of a pastoral letter to the clergy of his diocese,* and 
by private remonstrance, the most strenuous efforts were made 
to avert the threatened danger. But Pius IX. and his most 
trusted counselors were inflexible. On the 28th of June, 1868, 
the pope issued a bull summoning all the dignitaries of the 
Church who were entitled to attend general councils to meet 
at the Vatican at Rome, on the eighth day of December, the 
Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, " to be 
beguD, continued, and, with the help of the Lord, concluded, 
for his glory and the salvation of the whole Christian people." 

The preamble recapitulates at some length the wrongs the 
Church had sustained from the oppressions under which she 
was laborinor. 

^* It is known to all," declares the bull, ^^ by what a horrible 
tempest the Church is now tossed, and with how many and how 
great evils civil society is afflicted. Holy Church and her sal- 
utary teachings and venerable authority have been assaulted 
and trodden underfoot by the bitter enemies of God and man ; 
the supreme authority of this Holy See has been attacked and 
trampled upon ; her sacred rights contemned ; ecclesiastical 
property despoiled; the administration of sacred of&ces has 
been impeded, and most reverend men devoted to the divine 
ministry, and excelling in Catholic virtues, have been persecuted 
in many ways ; religious families [monastic houses] have been 
suppressed ; wicked books of every kind, pestilent journals, and 



* See Pomponio Leto, " Otto Mesi a Roma durante il Concilio Vaticano,'* 
pp. 406, 443. 



280 Appendix. 



various pernicious sects, have been everywhere diffused ; the 
education of the unhappy youth has been almost everywhere 
taken from the clergy, and, what is worse, in not a few places 
committed to teachers of iniquity and error. Thus, to the 
great grief of ourself and all good men, and to the deplorable 
injury of souls, impiety, corruption of morals, unbridled license, 
the contagion of false opinion of every sort, and of all vice and 
error, the contempt of law^, human and divine, have been prop- 
agated to such an extent that not only our most holy religion, 
but even human society, is miserably disturbed and rent asun- 
der 

"For these causes, following the venerable footsteps of our 
illustrious predecessors, we have thought good, as we have long 
desired, to assemble together our venerable brethren, the eccle- 
siastical dignitaries of the Catholic world, to share in our solici- 
tude and with us to consider the present most sad condi- 
tion of ecclesiastical as well as public affairs, and to communi- 
cate to us their valuable counsels in applying remedies to these 
many calamities." 

The bull proceeds to invoke the countenance and aid of all 
rulers, and especially of Catholic authorities, in promoting the 
objects of the Council ; orders that it be publicly proclaimed in 
the Roman basilicas, and affixed to their doors, and other usual 
places. It is subscribed and sealed by the pope and twenty- 
nine cardinals, and attested by the proper certifying officers.* 
We may safely presume that other measures besides the public 
reading and placarding of the bull were employed to bring its 
purport to the knowledge of those to whom it was addressed ; 
but as the post and public journals are modern and unchristian 
devices, they are not mentioned, even if employed, as a means 
of transmitting the bull to the bishops. 

It is observable that the bull makes no mention of the papal 
decree defining the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, nor 
of the Encyclic and Syllabus of 1864, both of which, as we have 
already remarked, were pontifical acts, concurred in by many 
bishops indeed, but not sanctioned by any general council, or 



* See Pomponio Leto,'**Otto Mesi a Roma durante 11 Concilio Vaticano," 
PP.381-38T. 



Appendix. 281 



as yet generally accepted or approved by the Catholic world. 
The recognition, express or implied, by the Council of these 
acts of supreme power, which were justly regarded as impor- 
tant steps toward the dogma of papal infallibility, was one of 
the objects which Pius IX. had most at heart in convoking the 
council at that period. 

On the 27th of November, 1868, a bull was promulgated regu- 
lating the order of proceeding in the council, which was warm- 
ly criticised by many of the clergy, as departing widely from 
the practice sanctioned by all former assemblies of the sort. 
But this is a family quarrel, in which we are not called to take 
part.* 

The council was opened on the appointed day with an allo- 
cution from the pope, using very hard language against the 
devil and his accomplices, and expressed much more in his 
usual style of bitterness than the buU.t It was evident that 
the death of the pope during the continuance of the council, 
which might last for years, was a not improbable contingency, 
and on the day of the assembling of the fathers a bull was is- 
sued providing that, in that event, a successor should be elected 
by the college of cardinals alone, without any participation of 
the council.t The election of Martin V. during the Council of 
Constance, after two of the three claimants to the papal crown 
had resigned and the third had been deposed, was indeed nom- 
inally made by a few cardinals and bishops, but it was notori- 
ous that their decision had been influenced by the council, and 
the Jesuits thought it expedient to guard against such an as- 
sumption of authority in case of the death of Pius IX., well 
knowing that if an election should be made by the council, the 
success of a candidate of their nomination would be doubtful. 

Among the most important movements of the ultramontane 
party during the council was the introduction of various dec- 
larations of Catholic faith, which were thrown out partly as 
feelers to try the temper of the council, and partly as commen- 
taries in advance of the final decree. One of these was en- 
titled De Ecclesia Christij laying down twenty-one canons ;§ an- 



* See Pomponio Leto, '' Otto Mesi," pp. 450-458. t lUd.^ pp. 45S-461. 

t Ibid., pp. 462-4G5. § Ibid., pp. 473-475. 



282 Appendix, 



other, Schema Constitutionis Dogmaticce Ecclesice Christi.^ These 
were followed by the bull Dei Filius et generis humani Redemptor,\ 
proclaimed on the 24th of April, 1870, embracing the general 
Catholic doctrines in twelve canons or propositions respecting 
the papacy and the Church. This may be regarded as the her- 
ald of the dogma of infallibility, which had not yet been formu- 
lated, or, at least, not presented to the council for acceptance. 
It embodies the ultramontane views of the essential character 
of the Church, and the position and authority of the papacy as 
its head, and might, in fact, be considered as almost superseding 
the necessity of the more formal definition of the dogma of the 
personal infallibility of the pontiff. The bull proclaims dog- 
matically, ex hae Petri cathedra, the doctrine of the Church con- 
cerning God, the creator of all things ; Divine Revelation, which 
is declared to consist of the Scriptures according to the canon 
of the Council of Trent, and of the unwritten traditions received 
by the apostles from Christ, or delivered them by inspiration 
of the Holy Spirit, and handed down to our times ; concerning 
Faith; and Faith and Eeason. These statements of doctrine 
are of an argumentative character, and are followed by eighteen 
canons, distributed under the heads above mentioned ; and he 
that shall not accept any one of them is declared accursed. 

The way was now prepared for the crowning measure of the 
council, the definition of the dogma of the personal infallibility 
of the Roman pontiff, which was proclaimed by the bull Pastor 
JEternus et Episcopiis, dated July 18th, 1870. This bull we give 
at length as printed in Pomponio Leto, ^^Otto Mesi a Roma 
durante il Concilio Vaticano," pp. 514-520. Its four chapters 
treat of the Institution of the Apostolic Primacy in St. Peter ; 
of the Perpetuity of the Primacy of the Blessed Peter in the 
Roman Pontiff; of the Power and Reason of the Primacy of the 
Roman Pontiff; and, finally, of the In fallible Magistracy of the Ro- 
man Pontiff. Of this last chapter we append an English trans- 
lation. 



* See Pomponio Leto, "Otto Mesi," pp. 475-^85. 
t Ibid., pp. 504-514. 



Appendix. 283 



CONSTITUTIO DOGMATICA PRIMA DE ECCLESIA CHRTSTI EDITA 
IN SESSIONE QUARTA SACROSANTI (ECUMENICI CONCILII 
VATICANI. 

PIUS EPISCOPUS SERYUS SERVORUM DEI SACRO APPROBANTE 
CONCLLIO AD PERPETUAM REI MEMORIAM. 

Pastor seternus et episcopus animarum nostrariim, nt saluti- 
ferum redemptionis opus perenne redderet, sanctam sedificare 
Ecclesiam decrevit, in qua veluti in domo Dei viveutis fideles 
omnes unius fidei et charitatis yinculo continerentur. Qua- 
propter, priusquam clarificaretur, rogavit Patrem non pro Apo- 
stolis tantum, sed et pro eis, qui credituri erant per verbura eo- 
rum in ipsum, ut omnes unum essent, sicut ipse Filius et Pater 
nnum sunt. Quemadmodum igitur Apostolos, quos sibi de 
mundo elegerat, misit, sicut ipse missus erat a Patre ; ita in Ec- 
clesia sua Pastores et Doctores usque ad consummationem sse- 
culi esse voluit. Ut vero Episcopatus ipse unus et indivisus es- 
set, et per cohserentes sibi invicem sacerdotes credentium mul- 
titudo universa in fidei et commuuionis unitate conservaretur, 
beatum Petrum caeteris Apostolis prseponens in ipso instituit 
perpetuum utri usque unitatis principium ac visibile fund amen- 
tum, super cujus fortitudinem seternum exstrueretur templum, 
et Ecclasise coelo inferenda sublimitas in hujus fidei firmitate 
consurgeret.* Et quoniam portse inferi ad evertendam, si fieri 
posset, Ecclesiam contra ejus fundamentura divinitus positum 
majori in dies odio undique insurgunt ; Nos ad catholici gregis 
custodiam, iucolumitatem, augmentum, necessarium essejudica- 
mus, sacro approbante Concilio, doctrinam de institution e, per- 
petuitate, ac natura sacri Apostolici primatus, in quo totius Ec- 
clesise yis ac soliditas consistit, cunctis fidelibus credendam et 
tenendam, secundum antiquam atque constautem universalis Ec- 
clesise fidem, proponere, atque coutrarios, domiuico gregi adeo 
perniciosos, errores proscribere et condemnare. 

Caput I. — De Apostolici Primatus in Beato Petro InstituUone. 

Docemus itaque et declaramus juxta Evangelii testimouia 
primatum jurisdiction is in universam Dei Ecclesiam immediate 
et directe beato Petro Apostolo promissum atque collatum a 
Christo Domino fuisse. Unum enim Simonem, cui jam pridem 
dixerat : Tu vocaberis Cephas,! postquam ille suam editit con- 
fessionem inquiens : Tu es Christus, Filius Dei vivi, solemnibus 

* S. Leo M., Serm. IV (Al. iii), cap. li., in diem natalis sui, 
t Joan, i., 42. 



284 Appendix. 



Ms verbis allocutns est Domiuus: Beatus es Simon Barjona, 
quia caro, et sanguis non revelavit tibi, sed Pater meus, qui 
in ccelis est : et ego dico tibi, quia tu es Petrus, et super banc 
I petram sedificabo Ecclesiam meam, et ports© iuferi non prseva- 
lebunt adversus earn : et tibi dabo claves regni coelorum : et 
quodcumque ligaveris super terram, erit ligatum et in ccelis : et 
quodcumque solveris super terram, erit solutum et in ccelis.* 
Atque uni Simoni Petro contulit Jesus post suam resurrectionem 
summi pastoris et rectoris jurisdictionem in totum suum ovile 
dicens: Pasce agnos meos : Pasce oves meas.t Huic tarn mani- 
festsB sacrarum Scripturarum doctrinse, ut ab Ecclesia catbolica 
semper iutellecta est, aperte opponuntur pravse eorum sententise, 
qui constitutam a Christo Domino in sua Ecclesia regiminis 
formam pervertentes, negant solum Petrum prse ceteris Aposto- 
lis, sive seorsum singulis sive omnibus simul, vero proprioque 
jurisdictionis primatu fuisse a Christo iustructum : aut qui af- 
lirmant eundemprimatum non immediate, directeque ipsi beato 
Petro, sed Ecclesise, et per banc illi, ut ipsius Ecclesiae ministro, 
delatum fuisse. 

Si quis igitur dixerit, beatum Petrum Apostolum non esse a 
Christo Domino coustitutum Apostolorum omnium principem 
et totius Ecclesiae militantis visibile caput; vel eundem ho- 
noris tantum ; non autem verse proprigeque jurisdictionis prima- 
tum ab eodem Domino Nostro Jesu Christo directe et immediate 
accepisse ; anathema sit. 

Caput II. — De Perpetuitate Primatus Beati Petri in Pomanis 
Pontificibus. 

Quod autem in beato Apostolo Petro, princeps pastorum et 
pastor magnus ovium Dominus Christus Jesus in perpetuam sa- 
lutem ac perenne bonum Ecclesiae instituit, id eodem auctore in 
Ecclesiae, quae fundata super petram ad finem sseculorum usque 
firma stabit, jugiter durare necesse est. Nulli sane dubium, 
imo sseculis omnibus notum est, quod sanctus beatissimusque 
Petrus, Apostolorum princeps et caput, fideique columna, et Ec- 
clesise catholicse fundamentum, a Domino Nostro Jesu Christo, 
Salvatore humani generis ac Eedemptore, claves regni accepit : 
qui ad hoc usque tempus et semper in suis successoribus, episco- 
pis Sanctse Romanse Sedis, ab ipso fundatae, ejusque cousecratae 
sanguine, vivit et prsesidet et judicium exercet.t Undo qui- 
cumque in hac Cathedra Petro succedit, is secundum Christi ip- 
sius institutionem primatum Petri in universam Ecclesiam ob- 

* Matt, xvi, 16-19. t Joan, xxi, 15-17. t Cf. EphesiDi Concilii, act. ill. 



Ajopendlx. 285 



tinet. Manet ergo dispositio veritatis, et beatus Petrus in ac- 
cepta fortitudine petrse perseverans suscepta Ecclesia3 guber- 
nacula non reliquit.* Hac de causa ad Roman am Ecclesiam 
propter potentiorem principalitatem necesse semper fait omnem 
convenire Ecclesiam, boc est, eos, qui sunt uudique fideles, ut in 
ea Sede, e qua venerandae comnmuionis jura in omnes dima- 
nant, tamquam membra in capite consociata, in uuam corporis 
compagem coalescerent.t 

Si quis ergo dixerit, non esse ex ipsius Cbristi Domini insti- 
tutione, sen jure divino, ut beatus Petrus in primatn super uni- 
versam Ecclesiam babeat perpetuos successores ; aut Romanum 
Poutificem non esse beat! Petri in eodem primatu successorem ; 
anatbema sit. 

Caput III. — De Yi et Eatione Primatus Bomani FonUficis, 

Quapropter apertis innixi sacrarum litterarum testimoniis, et 
inbserentes tum Prsedecessorum Nostrorum, Romanorum Ponti- 
ficum, tum Conciliorum generalium disertis, perspicuisqne de- 
cretis, innovamus (Ecumenici Concilii Florentini defiuitionem, 
qua credendum ab omnibus Cbristi fidelibus est, Sauctam Apo- 
stolicam Sedem, et Romanum Pontiiicem in universnm orbem 
tenere primatum, et ipsum Ponticem Romanum successorem esse 
beati Petri principis Apostolorum, et verum Cbristi Vicarium, 
totiusque Ecclesise caput, et omnium Cbristianorum patrem ac 
doctorem existere ; et ipsi in beato Petro i)ascendi, regendi et 
gubernandi uuiversalem Ecclesiam a Domino Nostro Jesu Cbri- 
sto plenam potestatem traditam esse ; quemadmodum etiam in 
gestis CEcnmenicorum Conciliorum et sacris canonibus conti- 
netur. 

Docemus proinde et declaramus, Ecclesiam Romanam, di- 
sponente Domino, super omnes alias ordinariae potestatis obti- 
nere principatum, et banc Romani Pontificis jurisdictionis po- 
testatem, quae vere episcopalis est, immediatam esse : erga quam 
cujuscumque ritus et dignitatis pastores atque fideles, tam seor- 
sum singnli quam simul omnes, officio bierarcbicse subordina- 
tionis, Ycraeque obedientise obstringuntur, non solum in rebus, 
quae ad fidem et mores, sed etiam in iis, quae ad disciplinam et 
regimen Ecclesiae per totum orbem diffusae pertinent ; ita nt 
custodita cum Romano Pontifice tam commnnionis, quam ejus- 
dem fidei professionis unitate, Ecclesiae Cbristi sit unus grex 



* S. Leo M., Serm. iii (Al. ii), cap, lii. 

t S. Iren. Adv. hser., lib. iii, c. iii, et Cone. Aquilei, a 381 inter, epp., S. Am- 
bros., ep. xi. 



286 Appefidix. 



sub uno summo pastore. Hsbc est catholicsB veritatis doctrina, 
a qua deviare salva fide atque salute nemo potest. 

Tautum autem abest, ut hsec Summi Pontificis potestas of- 
ficiat ordiuarise ac immediatse illi episcopal! jurisdictiouis po- 
testati, qua Episcopi, qui positi a Spiritu Sancto in Apostolorum 
locum successerunt, tamquam veri pastores assign atos sibi gre- 
ges, singuli singulos, pascunt et regunt, ut eadem a supremo et 
universali Pastore asseratur, roboretur ac vindicetur, secundum 
illud sancti Gregorii Magni : Mens honor est honor universalis 
EcclesisB. Mens honor est fratrum meorum solidus vigor. Turn 
ego vere honoratus sum, cum singulis quibusque honor debitus 
non negatur.* 

Porro ex suprema ilia Eomani Pontificis potestate gubern au- 
di universam Ecclesiam jus eidem esse consequitur, in hujus 
sui muneris exercitio libere comunicandi cum pastoribus et 
gregibus totius Ecclesiae, ut iidem ab ipso in via salutis doceri 
ac regi possint. Quare damnamus ac reprobamus illorum sen- 
tentias, qui banc supremi capitis cum pastoribus et gregibus 
communicationem licite impediri posse dicunt, aut eandem red- 
dunt sseculari potestati obnoxiam, ita ut contendant, quse ab 
Apostolica Sede vel ejus auctoritate ad regimen Ecclesiae con- 
stituuntur, vim ac valorem non habere, nisi potestatis ssecularis 
placito confirmentur. 

Et quoniam divino Apostolici primatus jure Roman us Pon- 
tifex universsD Ecclesise prseest, docemus etiam et declaramus, 
eum esse judicem supremum fidelium,t et in omnibus causis ad 
examen ecclesiasticum spectantibus ad ipsius posse judicium 
recurri.t Sedis vero Apostolicie, cujus auctoritate major non 
est, judicium a nemine fore retractandum, neque cuiquam de 
ejus licere judicare judicio.§ Quare a recto veritatis tramite 
aberrant, qui affirmant, licere ab judiciis Romanorum Pontifi- 
cum ad CEcumenicum Concilium tamquam ad auctoritatem Ro- 
mano Pontifice superiorem appellare. 

Si quis itaque dixerit, Romanum Pontificem habere tantum- 
modo officium inspectionis vel directionis, non autem plenam et 
supremam potestatem jurisdictionis in universam Ecclesiam, 
non solum in rebus, quae ad fidem et mores, sed etiam in iis, 
qu£e ad disciplinam et regimen Ecclesiae per totum orbem dif- 
fusae pertinent ; aut eum habere tantum potiores partes, non 
vero totam plenitudinem hujus supremae potestatis; aut hanc 

* Ep. ad Eulog. Alexandrin., lib. viii, ep. xxx. 
t Pii P. VI, Breve Super soliditate, d. 28 Nov. 1786. 
t Concil. (Ecum. Lugdnn. II. 
§ Ep. Nicolai I, ad Michcelem Tmperatorem, 



Appendix. 287 



ejus potestatem non esse ordinariam et immediatam sive in 
omnes ac singulas Ecclesias, sive iu omnes et siogulos pastores 
et fideles, anathema sit. 

Caput IY. — De Bomani Pontificis Infallibili Magisterio, 
Ipso autem Apostolico primatu, quern Romanus Pontifex, 
tamquam Petri principis Apostolorum successor, in universam 
Ecclesiam obtinet, supremam quoque magisterii potestatem 
comprehendi, hsec Sancta Sedes semper tenuit, perpetuus Eccle- 
sise usus comprobat, ipsaque (Ecumenica Concilia, ea imprimis, 
in quibus Oriens cum Occidente in fidei charitatisque unionem 
conveuiebat, declaraverunt. Patres enim Concilii Constanti- 
nopolitani quarti majorum vestigiis inhaerentes, banc solemnem 
ediderunt professionem : Prima salus est, rectse fidei regulam 
custodire. Et quia non potest Domini Nostri Jesu Christi prse- 
termitti sententia dicentis; Tu es Petrus, et super banc petram 
aedificabo Ecclesiam meam, bsec, quae dicta sunt, rerum pro- 
bantur effectibus, quia in Sede Apostolica immaculata est sem- 
per catholica reservata religio, et sancta celebrata doctrina. 
Ab hujus ergo fide et doctrina separari minime cupientes, spe- 
ramus, ut in una communione, quam Sedes Apostolica praedicat, 
esse mereamur, in qua est Integra et vera Christianse religio- 
nis soliditas.* Approbante vero Lugdunensi Concilio secundo, 
Grseci professi sunt : Sanctam Romanam Ecclesiam summum et 
plenum primatum et principatum super universam Ecclesiam 
catbolicam obtinere, quem se ab ipso Domino in beato Petro 
Apostolorum principe sive yertice, cujus Romanus Pontifex est 
successor, cum potestatis plenitudine recepisse veraciter et bu- 
militer recognoscit ; efc sicut prae caeteris tenetur fidei veritatem 
defendere, sic et, si quae de fide subortae fuerint quaestiones, suo 
debent judicio definiri. Florentinum denique Concilium defini- 
vit : Pontificem Romanum, verum Cbristi Yicarium, totiusque 
Ecclesiae caput et omnium Christianorum patrem ac doctorem 
existere ; et ipsi in beato Petro pascendi, regendi ac gubernandi 
universalem Ecclesiam a Domino Nostro Jesu Cliristo pleuam 
potestatem traditam esse. 

Huic pastoral! muneri ut satisfacerent, Praedecessores Nostri 
indefessam semper operam dederunt, ut salutaris Christi doc- 
trina apud omnes terrae populos propagaretur, parique cura 
vigilarunt, ut, ubi recepta esset, sincera et pura conservaretur. 
Quocirca totius orbis Antistites, nunc singuli, nunc in Synodis 

* Ex formula S. Hormisdse Papse, pront ab Hadriano II, Patribus Concilii 
(Ecumenici VIII, Constantinopolitani IV, proposita et ab iisdem subsciipta 
est. 



288 Ajopendix. 



congregati, longam Ecclesiarum consuetudinem, et antiquse re- 
gulsB formam sequentes, ea prsesertim pericula, quse in iiegotiis 
fidei emergebant, ad hanc Sedem Apostolicam retulerunt, ut 
ibi potissimum resarcirentur darana fidei, ubi fides non potest 
sentire defectum.* Romani autein Pontifices, prout teniporum 
et rerum conditio suadebat, nunc convocatis (Ecumenicis Con- 
ciliis, aut explorata Ecclesise per orbeni dispersse seutentia, 
nunc per Synodos particulares, nunc aliis, quse divina suppedi- 
tabat providentia, adhibitis auxiliis, ea teneuda definiverunt, 
quae sacris Scripturis et apostolicis Traditionibus consentanea, 
Deo adjutore, cognoverant. Neque enim Petri successoribus 
Spiritus Sanctus promissus est, ut eo revelante novam doctrinam 
patefacerent, sed ut eo assisteute traditam per Apostolos reve- 
lationem seu fidei depositum sancte custodirent et fideliter ex- 
ponerent. Quorum quidem apostolicam doctrinam omnes ve- 
nerabiles Patres amplexi et sancti Doctores ortbodoxi venerati 
atque secuti sunt ; plenissime scientes, banc sancti Petri Sedem 
ab omni semper errore illibatam permanere, secundum Domini 
Salvatoris Nostri divinam pollicitationem discipulorum suorum 
principi factam : Ego rogavi pro te, ut non deficiat fides tua, et 
tu aliquando conversus confirma fratres tuos. 

Hoc igitur veritatis et fidei numquam deficientis cbarisma 
Petro ej usque in hac Catbedra successoribus divinitus collatum 
est, ut excelso suo munere in omnium salutem fungerentur, ut 
universus Christi grex per eos ab erroris venenosa esca aversus, 
ccelestis doctrinse pabulo nutriretur, ut sublata scbismatis oc- 
casione Ecclesia tota una conservaretur, atque suo fundamento 
innixa firma adversus iuferi portas consisteret. 

At vero cum hac ipsa setate, qua salutifera Apostolici mu- 
neris efficacia vel maxime requiritur, non pauci inveniantur, 
qui illius auctoritati obtrectant ; necessarium omnino esse cen- 
semus, prserogativam, quam unigenitus Dei Filius cum summo 
pastorali officio conjuugere dignatus est, solemniter asserere. 

Itaque Nos traditioni a fidei Christianse exordio perceptse 
fideliter inbaereudo, ad Dei Salvatoris Nostri gloriam, religionis 
Catholicse exaltationem, et Cbristianorum populorum salutem, 
sacro approbante Concilio, docemus, et divinitus revelatum 
dogma esse definimus : Romanum Pontificem, cum ex Catbedra 
loquitur, id est, cum omnium Cbristianorum Pastoris et Docto- 
ris munere fungens, pro suprema sua Apostolica auctoritate 
doctrinam de fide vel moribus ab universa Ecclesia tenendam 
definite, per assistentiam divinam, ipsi in beato Petro promis- 



^ Cf. S. Bern., epist. cxc. 



Appendix. 289 



sam, ea infallibilitate pollere, qua divinus Rederaptor Ecclesiam 
suam in definieuda doctrina de fide vel moribus instructam esse 
voluit; ideoqiie ejusmodiRomaniPoutificis defiiiitioues ex sese, 
non autem ex consensu Ecclesiae irreformabiles esse. 

Si quis autem huic Nostrse definitioni contradicere, quod 
Deus avertat, prsesumpserit, anathema sit. 

Datum RomsB, in publica Sessione in Vaticana Basilica 

solemniter celebrata, anno Incarnationis Dominicae mil- 

lesimo octingentesimo septuagesimo, die decima octava 

Julii. Pontificatus Nostri anno vigesimo quiuto. Ita est. 

JOSEPHUS Episcopus S. Hippolyti, 

Secretarius Co7iciUi Vaticani. 



TRANSLATION OF CHAPTER IV. OF THE BULL PASTOR jETERNUS 
ET EPISCOPUS. 

OF THE INFALLIBLE MAGISTRACY OF THE ROMAN PONTIFF. 

This Holy See hath always held, the perpetual usage of the 
Church proves, and the Ecumenical Councils — those especially 
in which the East and the West met in a union of faith and 
charity — have declared that : 

In the very Apostolic Primacy, which the Roman Pontiff, as 
the successor of Peter, the chief of the Apostles, holds over the 
Universal Chnrch, the supreme power of government is em- 
braced. 

For the Fathers of the fourth Council of Constantinople, 
treading in the footsteps of their predecessors, proclaimed this 
solemn declaration : The chief safety is in maintaining the rule 
of the right faith. And as the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
saying. Thou art Peter, and on this rock will I build my 
Church, can not be passed by, that which was said is proved 
by the course of events ; for the Catholic religion has always 
been preserved unstained in the Apostolic See, and its holy doc- 
trine has been proclaimed. Not by any means willing, there- 
fore, to depart from its faith and teaching, we hope we may be 
found worthy to abide in the one communion which the Apos- 
tolic See preaches, and in which is the true and entire strength 
of the Christian religion. And with the approbation of the sec- 
ond Council of Lyons, the Greeks declared : That the Holy Ro- 
man Church holds the full and supreme primacy and princi- 
pality over the Universal Catholic Church, which she truly and 

13 



290 Appendix. 



humbly acknowledges to have received, with the plenitude of 
power, from the Lord himself in the blessed Peter, chief and 
head of the Apostles, of whom the Koman pontiff is the succes- 
sor ; and as, above all, she is bound to defend the truth of the 
faith, if any questions shall arise touching the faith, they ought 
to be determined by her judgment. And, in fine, the Council 
of Florence defined : That the Eoman pontiff' is the true vicar 
of Christ, the head of the whole Church, and the father and 
teacher of all Christians ; and the fall power of feeding, ruling, 
and governing the Universal Church was conferred upon him 
in the blessed Peter by our Lord Jesus Christ. 

For the fulfillment of this pastoral charge, Our Predecessors 
have labored unweariedly, that the saving doctrine of Christ 
may be propagated among all people, and with like care they 
have watched, that wherever received it should be preserved 
pure and uncontaminated. Hence the bishops of the whole 
world, now singly, and now assembled in Synod, following the 
long-established custom of the churches and the form of the an- 
cient rule, have referred to this Apostolic See the perils which 
have arisen in matters of faith, in order that injuries to the faith 
might be reformed where the faith can not be impaired. The 
Roman pontiffs, according to the state of things and of times — 
now by assembling Ecumenical Councils; now by inquiring 
the opinion of the Church distributed through the world; now 
through particular Synods ; now by resorting to other aids 
which Divine Providence has supplied — have decided that those 
things ought to be held which, with the Divine help, they have 
found to agree with the Holy Scriptures and the Apostolic tra- 
ditions. For the Holy Spirit was not promised to the succes- 
sors of Peter, that they might make manifest new doctrines 
revealed by the Spirit, but that, by the aid of the Spirit, they 
might holily preserve and faithfully expound the revelation de- 
livered to the Apostles, or the deposit of the faith, whose Apos- 
tolic teachings all the venerable Fathers and holy Doctors have 
embraced, venerated, and followed ; well knowing this See of 
Saint Peter remains always untainted with error according to 
the Divine promise of our Lord and Saviour to the chief of his 
Apostles : '^ I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not ; aud 
when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." 

Hence this gift of truth and unfailing faith was divinely con- 
ferred upon Peter and his successors in this chair, that they 
might discharge their exalted office for the salvation of all ; 
that the universal flock of Christ might be turned by them 
from the poisonous bait of error, and fed with the food of heav- 



Appendix, 291 



enly doctrine ; that, occasion of schism being removed, the whole 
Church might be preserved in unity, and, resting on its founda- 
tions, stand firmly against the gates of hell. 

But forasmuch as, in this age, in which the saving efficacy of 
the Apostolic office is greatly needed, not a few are found who 
oppose its authority, we think it altogether necessary solemn- 
ly to assert the prerogative which the Only begotten Son of 
God has designed to connect with the chief pastoral office. 

Therefore, faithfully adhering to the tradition received from the 
degimiing of the Christian faith , to tJie glory of God our Saviour, the 
exaltation of the Catholic religion, and the salvation of Christian na- 
tions, the Sacred Council approving, ive teach and define it to he a 
dogma divinely revealed: that the Roman Pontiff, when he sjyeaks ex 
cathedra, that is, when discharging his office of Shepherd and Teacher 
of all Christians, hy virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he de- 
fines a doctrine touching faith or morals to he held hy the Universal 
Church, through the I>ivine aid promised him in the Blessed Peter, he 
acts [pollere] with that Infallihility wherewith the Eedeemer willed 
that his Church should he endowed in defining doctrine touching the 
faith or morals ; and hence definitions of the Roman Pontiff are in 
themselves, and not hy the agreement of the Church, irreformahle. 

If any shall presume to contradict this our Definition, which may 
Godforhid, let him he accursed [anathema]. 

The definition of the dogma is draughted with very little of 
the logical or rhetorical ability one should have expected. It 
probably passed through many hands, and in the manipulations 
it has undergone it seems to have been strij)ped of any literary 
merit or theological skill which the original sketch may have 
possessed. 

The announcement of this decree was coolly received by all 
— met with open hostility by many — right-minded Catholics. 
Timid assurances were given that at a future session of the 
council the objectionable features of the definition would be 
explained away ; but it has been finally accepted by so large 
a proportion of the clergy, that any retractation of its terms is 
hardly probable. 

When we say that the dogma of papal infallibility has been 
accepted by a large proportion of the Catholic clergy, we do not 
mean that it has been accepted by honest and enlightened 
Catholic priests in any other sense than a lawyer accepts the 
judgment of a court whose reasoniug does not convince him. 



292 Appendix. 



**He that complies against his will 
Is of his owu opinion still." 

And such priests do not believe Pius IX. and his predecessors, 
many of whom have been as imbecile and as malevolent as 
himself, to have been infallibly inspired a whit more than they 
believed it before the council. 

They have, indeed, been silenced, for they hold that interest 
Eeijpuhlicm ut sit finis litium; and, therefore, though the question 
was foolishly moved and unfairly decided, it is better to acqui- 
esce than openly to rebel. 

In Protestant countries, public attention has not yet been by 
any means sufficiently drawn to the insidious and dangerous 
character of the claims set up under the words et morihus, " aud 
morals," in the operative clause of the dogma. In Catholic 
theology, morals is a term embracing not merely the decencies 
of private life, but all questions whatever of right and wrong 
in the action or opinions of individuals, of rulers, and of nations. 
Hence the Pope claims plenary and final jurisdiction over every 
question of public or of private right which the affairs of ordi- 
nary life or the ingenuity of casuists can suggest, and according- 
ly he arrogates to himself the authority of supreme arbiter over 
every human interest respecting which there can be a conflict 
of moral judgment. What of life is there left which is exempt 
from the all-controlling sway of the Roman Pontiff? 

The bull Pastor Mternus is not the simple decision of a ques- 
tion of Romish dogmatical theology which interests none but 
Catholics ; it is an assertion of a divinely conferred, direct, and 
supreme authority over all actions, all opinions, all sentiments, 
which concern the hopes or fears of men whether here or here- 
after. 

Among the best works in the history of the Vatican Council 
are : Maret, " Du Concile G^n6ral et de la Paix Religieuse ;" Ja- 
nus, ^^ The Pope and the Council f and Pomponio Leto, " Otto 
Mesi a Roma durante il Concilio Yaticano." 

We stated that a religious war was a part of the Jesuit pro- 
gramme, and the late Mr. Louis N. Bonaparte, sometime em- 
peror of the French, or rather the Empress Eugenie — for she 
was fond of calling the campaign against Germany '^ my war '^ 



Appendix, 293 



— commenced unprovoked hostilities against that power* with 
results which need not be here recited. If Austria and Italy 
really entertained any velteites of taking up arms to support the 
crusade, the very first battles on the frontier deterred them from 
such action by revealing such a military incapacity on the part 
of the French, that the final result was at once foreseen ; and the 
only show of aid that France received in the struggle was the 
foolish and criminal raid of Garibaldi, who led his tatterdemal- 
ions against the forces of the friends of his country, in a Quix- 
otic attempt to sustain a church and a nation which for ten 
years he had constantly and justly denounced as the worst en- 
emies of Italy. 

IV. The elevation of St. Alfonso de^ Ligaori to the rank of a 
doctor of the Church. On this subject we refer to what has 
been said in the text. 

V. The dedication of the Universal Church to the cultus of 
the Sacred Heart. 

On the 13th of June the following article appeared in the 
Unita CattoUca of Rome, the leading authority in ecclesiastical 
journalism: 

^^ We have already spoken of the innumerable petitions which 
have been received by the Holy Father since July, 1870, be- 
seeching him to deign to consecrate the Catholic world to the 
most Sacred Heart of Jesus ; petitions from millions of the 
faithful, from thousands of the clergy, and from no fewer than 

seven hundred of the bishops These petitions were not 

forgotten. His Holiness, says the above-mentioned decree, re- 
flecting before God upon the gravity of the case, gave them to 
the Sacred Congregation of Rites for examination, and, finally, 
after having conceded the partial consecration of the dioceses 
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, authorized the general consecra- 
tion of all the Catholics of the world at one time." 

The following announcement had been made in the Unitd 
CattoUca on the 1st of June : 



*Tlie proclamation of the bull defining the dogma of the papal infallibility- 
was made on the 8th of July, 1S70. War was declared by France against Ger- 
many a week later. The near coincidence of these events in time was not an 
accident. The moral blow by Pius IX. was the preconcerted signal for the 
material blow to be given by France. 



294 Appendix, 



^^It is not, therefore, marvelous that this devotion, from 
Catholic France, where it had its origin, has been propagated 
and diffused in Italy, in all Europe, and throughout the entire 
world, and that to-day bishops and faithful of all nations have 
turned to the sacred Apostolic See, confidently expressing their 
desire — namely, that there is no other remedy against the many 
evils hy which the human family is afflicted than to co7isecrate it 
wholly to the Holiest Heart of Jesus. For which reason, the Holy 
Father, in the desire to satisfy in some manner the common 
desire, has deigned, by decree of the Sacred Congregation of 
Kites, dated the 22d of April, to approve the formula of conse- 
cration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, exhorting all the faithful 
throughout the Catholic world to recite the same, either in con- 
gregation or in private, on the 16th of this current June, the 
thirtieth anniversary of his assumption of the Supreme Pontif- 
icate, and second centenary of the revelation made by the Di- 
vine Eedeemer to the blessed Marguerite, to propagate the de- 
votion to His Sacred Heart." 

VI. The Bolla di Composizione : this bull is said to have been 
first issued in 1865, and it is renewed every year. It is au- 
thenticated by the Episcopal seal, and bears the signatures of 
the Ordinary and the Pope. It is affixed to the doors of the 
churches and, to use the words of an Italian journalist, ^'The 
people consider it as a species of amulet or talisman, and will 
make any sacrifice to procure a copy of it. Among the dwell- 
ings of the poorer classes in Sicily, you can scarcely find a 
house in which this bull is not preserved, and regarded as a 
sacred object." 

The form is as follows : 



The Holy Apostles 
Peter and Paul. 



1866. 

Summary of the Bull 

OP Composition. 



Arms of the 
Supreme Pontiff. 



For those who ought to restore the Goods of Uncertain Owners, grant- 
ed of the Holiness of Our Lord Pius /X, Supreme Pontiffs for the 
Year eighteen hundred and sixty-six. 

The instrument goes on to fix the price to be paid proportion- 
ally to the amount of property unlawfully acquired, and speci- 
fies eighteen cases to which it is applicable : 1. Illicit gains gen- 



Ap2ye7idix, 295 



erally ; 2. Improper receipt of ecclesiastical rents and dues ; 3. 
Eetaining legacies unjustly; 4. Receiving bribes for unjustly 
deciding or delaying lawsuits; 5. Wrongfully defending a 
cause ; 6. False testimony ; 7. Receiving bribes for illegal offi- 
cial acts; 8. Receiving gifts for projier judicial decisions; 9. Ex- 
action of illegal fees ; 10. Receiving bribes for favoring escape 
of criminals ; 11. Cheating in gambling ; 12. Obtaining money 
by false pretenses; 13. Non-restitution of objects found ; 14. Re- 
tention of property of others ; 15. Damage to property by tres- 
pass; 16. Gains of lewd women; 17. Adulterations and false 
weights and measures ; 18. Usury and cheating generally. 

It is superfluous to enlarge on the effects of the papal indorse- 
ment of the morality and the indecencies of De^ Liguori and 
the follies of the Sacred Heart, as upon the inevitable corrup- 
tion of an ignorant and viciously disposed people by such pro- 
ceedings as are authorized by the Bolla cU Comjjosizione. The 
total want of all security for life and property in Sicily, which 
hardly dates further back than the issuing of this bull in 1865, 
is, with great probability, ascribed by many competent judges 
more to the Bolla di Composizione than to any other one cause. 



INDEX. 



Abbe Nau's remarks on the Queen 
of Heaven, 121. 

Abbe Paris, miracles reported to have 
been wrought at the tomb of, 1T7. 

Abitino, the, or scapulary of M^ry, 180. 

Acerbissimum^ September 2Tth, 1852, 
38, 22T. 

•'Acta Sanctorum" of the Bollandists, 
a very extensive work, 60. 

Acts and the Gospels, disputations as 
to authorship of, 12. 

"Ages of Faith," the, 195. 

Agricola, Isidore, canonization of, 71. 

Alacoque, Marguerite Marie, a weak- 
minded nun, revelations of, 99. 

Amelia, the city of, relieved from dis- 
ease by having the relics of St. Li- 
borius, 82. 

Anchieta, Father, celebrated as the 
"Apostle of Brazil," 89. 

Angers', Bishop of, remarks about 
Christian civilization, 144. 

Annius of Viterbo, detection of the 
forgeries of, 211. 

Apathy of American politicians to pa- 
pal aggression, 119. 

Apotheosis, authority for use of the 
word, 62. 

Appeals from popes to councils, ex- 
cept in cases of schism, forbidden, 
34. 

Aqueduct, or channel, the term ap- 
plied to Mary, 133. 

13 



Arnaud's remarks on the revocation 
of the Edict of Nantes, 238. 

Arnold of Brescia, 219. 

Arras, Bishop of (the Cardinal de la 
Tour d'Auvergne), remarks of, on 
president in France, 1848, 114. 

Artists and builders, ecclesiastical, of 
the "Ages of Faith," 199. 

Asseline's essay, " Marie Alacoque et 
le Sacre Cceur,"100. 

AutO'da-fe over heretical books, 242. 

Auxerres', Bishop of, letter on the 
"Life of Mary Alacoque," and its 
bad tendencies, 104. 

Avellino, Andrea, anecdote of, and 
temple at Messina, dedicated to, 
83. 

"Ave Maria" said every day by a 
wicked man in Spain, and the ap- 
pearance of the Virgin after his 
death, 141. 

Banks and his horses burned alive by 
order of the Inquisition, 221. 

Barlaam and Josaphat, religious ro- 
mance of, 43. 

Baronius, the "Annals" of, 60. 

Benedict XIII. formally deposed and 
excommunicated, 33. 

Bernadette Soubirans and the revela- 
tion to, 168. 

Berthier, Father, and the Virgin's ap- 
parition in 1846, 154. 

•5f 



298 



Index, 



Bible, an English priest burned alive 

for preparing a concordance of the, 

54. 
Bible - burning by Canadian priests, 

16. 
Bilocation, miraculous gift of, 133. 
Bolla di Composizione issued by the 

pope, 141, 294. 
Bollandist Lives of the Saints possess 

no literary merit, 63. 
Bologna, the city from which Edgar 

Mortara was kidnaped, 181. 
Bolsena, miracle of, 47, 49. 
Books, suppression of, by the priests, 

241. 
Bossuet's remarks on the persecution 

of the Huguenots, 238. 
Breviary, the, contains a number of 

secular legends, 79. 
Brigands and robbers solaced by the 

pope, 141. 
Brothers of Common Life, the, 216. 
Bruno, Giordano, the case of, 218, 

221. 
Builders and artists, ecclesiastical, of 

the "Ages of Faith," 199. 
Bunyan's picture of the "Old Man 

that sat in the Mouth of the Cave," 

63. 
Burning of the cathedral of Santiago, 

in Chili, 138. 

C^SAK, the " Commentaries " of, pro- 
nounced forgeries by Lipsiiis, 211. 

Calabrian and Sicilian assassins, be- 
lief of the, 79. 

Canadian priests, Bible -burning by, 
16. 

Canonization, decree of, for alleged 
miracles, discussion of, 73. 

Canus, Melchior, remarks by, on the 
" Legenda Aurea," 66. 

Capel's, Monsignor, reply to Gladstone 
as to the powers of the Church, 36. 

Cardinal de la Tour d'Auvergne's re- 
marks in reference to the election of 
a president of France in 1848, 114. 



Carlyle's remarks on the English cen- 
sus of 1871, 107. 

Carpet, magnificent, sent by the King 
of Prussia to Pius IX., 89. 

Cathedra, all decrees pronounced 
from, are infallible, 70. 

Catholics not bound to keep faith with 
heretics, 27. 

Catholicism, essays on, by Donoso 
Cortes, 48. 

Cautious policy of Rome in Protest- 
ant countries, 201. 

Caxton's translation of "Vitas Pa- 
trum,"4l. 

Celibacy of the clergy, establishment 
of the, 107. 

Censures, ecclesiastical, 225. 

Census of 1871 in England, Carlyle's 
remark on, 107. 

Character of Pope Pius IX., 122. 

Charles V. restoring the ascendency of 
the Romish See, 218. 

Cheats and impostures the work of 
"Catholics," and not of the 
"Church," 76. 

Christian Scriptures, remarks about 
by Protestants, 53. 

Christianity, first reception of, 14. 

Christ's appearance to St. Elizabeth, 
St. Matilda, and St. Bridget, 146; 
miraculous communication to a girl 
of St. Marcel, in France, 146. 

"Chronicle of the Augustinian Mon- 
astery," by John Busch, 25. 

Church, mythic and heroic ages of the, 
12 ; means the clergy only, and not 
the laity, 79 ; of Santa Maria in Rome 
possesses the only portrait of the 
Madonna and Child by St. Luke, 148 ; 
at Lourdes, a stately edifice, 172. 

Church and State, opinion about, in 
Catholic countries, 213; severance 
of the, considered logically, 214. 

Civiltd Cattolica, the recognized offi- 
cial organ of the papacy, 36. 

Clement VIIL, sentence used by, in 
the canonization of St. Raymond, 70. 



Index, 



299 



Clergy, submission of the, to Peter the 
Great, 237. 

Coat at Treves, disappearance of the, 
88. 

Coen, Joseph, abduction of, in 1864, 
183. 

Colonna, Otto, made pope November 
11th, 141T, under the title of Martin 
v., 33. 

Columbus, Christopher, an aspirant 
for canonization, 61. 

" Commentarius de Immaculate Vir- 
ginis Conceptu," 180. 

Communists of Paris in 1871, and their 
atrocities, 202. 

Company of Jesus, 115. 

Confession, obligatory auricular, its 
institution, 197. 

Confessors, Manual for, 23. 

Consecration at mass causing leprosy 
to disappear during the time of cel- 
ebration, 49. 

Constance, Council of, the circumstan- 
ces under which it was convoked, 
33. 

Constantine's, Emperor, alleged dona- 
tion to the Church a forgery, 208. 

"Consulate and the Empire," by 
Thiers, 165. 

Danger feared by the papacy of the 
rule being adopted, ^^Obediendum 
esse soli Deo,^^ 230. 

De Arbues, Pedro, a holy man, 62. 

"De Beueficio Christi Mortis," by Ao- 
nio Paleario, 220. 

DeCaylus's opinion of Languet's "Life 
of Mary Alacoque," 104. 

Decorations and orders largely dis- 
tributed by the papacy, 203. 

Decree of the pope in 1875 consecra- 
ting the Universal Catholic Church 
to the Sacred Heart, 108. 

Decrees of the pope considered infal- 
lible, 69. 

Dedication of the Universal Church to 
the cultus of the Sacred Heart, 293. 



"De Fide Hsereticis Servanda," argu- 
ment in defense of burning John 
Huss, 26, 27. 

De Geroal's, Monseigneur, letter on 
Gasparin's works, 243. 

De' Liguori's " Glories of Mary," 131 ; 
" Theologia Moralis," 131. 

Delord's "Histoire du Second Em- 
pire," 153. 

De Mun, Captain, an oratorical cham- 
pion of the throne and altar, 113. 

De Perpetuitate Primatus Beati Petri 
in Romanis Pontificibus, 284. 

De Romani Pontificis Infallibili Ma- 
gisterio, 287. 

De Sevigue's, Madame, enthusiasm at 
the revocation of the Edict of 
Nantes, 238. 

De Vi et Eatione Primatus Romani 
Pontificis, 285. 

Devotion to the Sacred Heart an ar- 
istocratic religion, 110 ; "New," in 
France, organization of a, 153. 

Dicastery, jurisdiction of the, 36. 

Di Lucia, Dr. Francesco, in search of 
relics of martyrs, 93, 94. 

Dining thirteen at table considered a 
graceful feminine weakness, 195. 

"Directorium Inquisitorum " of Ey- 
meric, 222. 

Divus, an appellation given to the 
saints of the Church, 62. 

Doctrinal intolerance of the Church, 
56. 

Dollinger on mediaeval ecclesiastical 
forgeries, 208. 

Donation, alleged, to the Romish 
Church, by the Emperor Constau- 
tine, pronounced a forgery, 208, 209. 

Dupanlonp's, Bishop, letter on mod- 
ern prophecies and prodigies, 176. 

Eastward posture of priests in the 

churches, 195. 
Ecclesiastical forgeries, 207; forgeries, 

225. 
Ecumenical councils, judgment of, to 



300 



Index, 



be considered equal to the judgment 
of God himself, 34. 

Edict of Nautes, the, and its revoca- 
tion, 230. 

Education less in America and Eu- 
rope than in Oriental countries, 184. 

Encyclical and Syllabus of 1864, 259- 
289. 

Equality of Protestant and Catholic 
churches recognized by France, 112. 

Errores de Ecclesia ej usque Juribus, 
271 ; de Societate Civili turn in se, 
turn in suis ad Ecclesiam Relationi- 
bus Spectata, 272; de Ethica Natu- 
rali et Christiana, 275 ; de Matrimo- 
iiio Christiano, 276; de Civili Ro- 
mani Pontificis Principatu, 277 ; qui 
ad Liberalismum Hodiernum refe- 
runtur, 277. 

Ethical and religious doctrine, study 
of, 56. 

Fabulous legends of the Romish 

Church, 16. 
*' False Decretals," 207. 
Fasting on Saturdays, 140. 
Female martyr, entire skeleton of, 93. 
Fenelon's approval of the persecution 

of the Huguenots, 238. 
Fetichism, and its fall signification, 

179. 
Flechier's sanction of the revocation 

of the Edict of Nantes, 238. 
"Flos Sanctorum," translations of, 

59, 60. 
*'Fora Ecclesiastica," abolition of, 

condemned by the Romish Church, 

38. 
Forgeries, ecclesiastical, 207; of old 

manuscripts, 211. 
Forum Ecclesiasticum, papal remon- 
strances against the abolition of 

the, 227. 
France, the Romish Palestine, 153. 
"Fratres Communis Vitse," 25, 212. 
Freedom, equal religious, admitted as 

a political right, 39. 



Free universities in France, struggle 

against, 116. 
French military conspicuous as ardent 

supporters of Jesuit principles, 113. 
Friars and nuns, statistics of, in 

France, 116. 
Funds always needed for every act 

performed by the Church of Rome, 

69. 

Galileo's recantation, 129. 

Gallicism in France dead since 1870, 
161. 

Gallifet's, Father, "Excellence de la 
Devotion au Sacre Coeur," 102. 

Garibaldi, in a Life of, see concerning 
the Inquisition at Rome, 219 ; fool- 
ish raid of, 293. 

Garments of Christ, dispute as to the 
whereabouts, 87. 

Gasparin's works, 16, 118, 243. 

'* Gate of Heaven," the term applied 
to Mary, 134. 

*' General Legend of the Saints," the, 
39. 

German Catholic movement initiated 
by Rouge, 88. 

Germaine Cousin, the blessed, shep- 
herdess of Pibrac, 162. 

Giordano Bruno, the case of, 218, 
221. 

Giorgi, Father, and La Colombi^re, 
101. 

*' Glories of Mary," printed under ec- 
clesiastical sanction, 78, 130. 

God, identity of, with the Virgin Mary, 
135. 

God on earth (Deus in terris), the title 
generally applied to the pope, 55. 

Goethe's remark, "Ihr Anblick giebt 
den Engeln Starke," 235. 

Golden Age of France, the, declared 
by Monseigueur Nardi to be during 
the reign of Louis XIV., 239. 

Goodwin's writings quoted by the Jes- 
uit fathers, 100; "Heart of Christ," 
remarks on, 101. 



Index, 



301 



Goose, game of the, and Father An- 

chieta, 90. 
Gospels and the Acts, disputations as 

to authorship of, 12. 
Grant of the papal assembly to Louis 

XIV., on certain conditions, 235. 
Greek Church, theological standards 

of, 125. 
Gregory XII. resigning his pretensions 

to the papal throne, 33. 
Gregory XV., decree promulgated by, 

in 1622, on the canonization of five 

saints, 71. 
Grenoble, Bishop of, sermon deliv- 
ered by the, to the pilgrims of 18T2, 

159. 
Groot, Gerhard, account of the life of, 

21T. 
Guibord case, the, 117, 243. 

" Heaet of Christ," remarks on, 101, 
103. 

Healing more speedy by calling on 
the name of the Virgin than by in- 
voking the name of Jesus, 144. 

Henry IV. of France, Edict of Nantes 
issued by, in 1598, 230. 

Heretics, faith not to be kept V7ith, by 
Catholics, 27. 

*'How History is sometimes Writ- 
ten," an article in Frasefs Maga- 
zine, October, 18T5, 28. 

Hugo's, Victor, opinion of France, 
152. 

Huguenots, the, and the Edict of 
Nantes, 235; persecution of, 236, 
238. 

Huss, John, argument in defense of 
the burning of, 26 ; conduct and 
bearing of, before the council, 28; 
terms of the judgment at the trial 
of, 29 ; papal approval of the con- 
demnation of, 226. 

Identity of God with the Virgin Mary, 

135. 
Idolatry, a full definition of, 179. 



Image of Our Lady of the Remedies 
at Alfano, in Portugal, 144. 

Images of the Virgin in Italy, 147. 

^^ Imagine^'' in Italy, 147. 

" Imitatio Christi" believed to be the 
doctrines of the Brothers of Com- 
mon Life, 218. 

Immaculate Conception, dogma of, 
137, 246, 259. 

Inchofer's, the Jesuit, essay, "Epis- 
tolse B. Marise ad Messanenses Veri- 
tas," 128. 

Indifferentismus, Latitudinarismus, 
270. 

Indulgences granted for the perform- 
ance of certain duties, ISO. 

Inefdbilis Deus, copy of the bull, 246, 
259. 

Infallible magistracy of the Roman 
pontiff, translation of the bull, 289. 

Innocent IV., briefs issued by, to the 
province of Lombardy, 1252-54, 223, 
224. 

Inquisition in Portugal, the bull estab- 
lishing the, 211 ; in Rome, 211. 

"Inquisitorial Manual" of Eymeric, 
222. 

"Institutions de Droit Ecclesias- 
tique," by Nuytz, 229. 

Instruction, Jesuit, the tendency of, 
117 ; solid, more attention to, need- 
ed in America, 120. 

Interdicted persons in the Middle 
Ages, the severity used toward, 22. 

Isabella, daughter of Philip IL, wear- 
ing unchanged linen, 80. 

Isere, potato rot in the, 163. 

Italy, "imaf/me" in, 147. 

Japanese martyrs, twenty-seven, can- 
onized by Pius IX., 61. 

Jerome of Prague, papal approval of 
the condemnation of, 227. 

Jesu, Teresa de, canonization of, 71, 
74. 

Jesuit instruction, the tendency of, 
117. 



302 



Index, 



Jesuits, the Society of, well -organ- 
ized, 58 ; remarks about the, 81 ; ex- 
pelled from Portugal, Spain, and 
Naples, 177. 

Jesus, Sacred Heart of, Devotion to 
the, 98 ; Company of, 115. 

Jewish children kidnaped, 181. 

Joan of Arc a candidate for canoniza- 
tion, 61. 

John XIII. resigning the insignia of 
office, 33. 

Joseph advanced as patron of the 
Church, 174. 

Judgment of the council at the trial 
of John Huss, 29. 

Juries, and the persons of whom they 
are composed, 192. 

Keller's statement that freedom in 
religion is allowed by the Romish 
Church, 182. 

La Colombieee and Father Giorgi, 

100. 
"La France," by Count Agenor de 

Gasparin, 153. 
Lamprey of the Sea, True and Sacred, 

a title given to the Virgin Mary, 149. 
Languet's "Vie de Marie Alacoque," 

104. 
La Salette, the Vu'gin of, pilgrims at 

the tomb of, 98 ; homage paid in 

1872, 158 ; hymn of the boy and girl 

of, 159. 
Lasserre's glorification of the Virgin 

of Lourdes, 166. 
Lateau, Louise, a French girl who had 

the stigmata, 162. 
*'Lausiaca" of Palladius, 42. 
La Vierge de laEevanche, now known 

as the Virgin of Lourdes, 174. 
Laymen not permitted to testify 

against a priest, 38. 
Legend, the term, and what it em- 
braced originally, 13. 
"Legenda Lombardica" of Peter de 

Voragine, commonly called the 



"Legenda Aurea," 11, 43; remarks 
about, by Melchior Canus, 66. 

Legends, raediaaval, falling into dis- 
credit, 53. 

" L'Ency clique du 8 Decembre, 1864, 
et les Principes de 1789," by Keller, 
182. 

"L'Ennemi de la Famille, Innocent 
III.," by Gasparin, 118. 

Leprosy disappearing at the moment 
of consecration, 49. 

"Les Legendes Pieuses du Moyen- 
Age," remarks on, 16. 

Letter from the Saviour to a girl of 
St. Marcel, in France, 244. 

"Liberty of the Church" a phrase 
used in the Roman Curia, 37, 

Lipsius on the "Commentaries" of 
Caesar, 211. 

Literature, legendary, of Mariolatry, 
126. 

"Lives of the Saints," by Alban But- 
ler, 60. 

Lombardy, briefs issued by Innocent 
IV. to the authorities in, during the 
years 1252-'54, 223, 224. 

Loudon Publishers' Circular on the 
Guibord case, 243. 

Loreto, the Holy House of, history of, 
86. 

Louis XIV., remarks on his reign, 
111 ; and the Edict of Nantes, 231. 

Louis XVI. a candidate for canoniza- 
tion, 61. 

Lourdes, the Virgin of, 164 ; Napoleon 
III., and the cave of, 167; revela- 
tion at, to Bernadette Soubirans, 
168. 

Loyola, Ignatius, canonization of, 71 ; 
prohibition of, evaded by the fa- 
thers, 99. 

Madonna of Oropa in Piedmont, 150. 
"Manual for Confessors," 23. 
Manuscripts, forgeries of old, 211. 
Mariolatry in France, 152 ; dates of, 
295 ; legendary literature of, 126. 



Index, 



303 



Married people, report on the inabili- 
ty of sixty-seven per cent, of the 
bridegrooms and ninety-eight per 
cent, of the brides in some districts 
of France, to write their names, 
108. 

Martyrs, twenty-seven Japanese, can- 
onized by Pius IX., 61. 

Mary, the personality of, 130 ; Perpet- 
ual Kosary of, 161. 

Maximilian, Emperor, the pope's dec- 
laration on instruction to, 116. 

Mediaeval history and forms much 
studied by present society, 194. 

Melanie, dullness of the girl, 154. 

Melchior Canus, remarks by, on the 
"Legenda Aurea," 66. 

Mercy the special domain of Mary, 
136. 

Merenda and Matteo di Frosinone 
burned at the stake in Kome, 220. 

Messina, the letter of, and the Virgin's 
reply, 12T. 

Military of France conspicuous as ar- 
dent supporters of Jesuit principles, 
113. 

Militia of the pope, 115. 

Milman's "Latin Christianity," 64. 

Milton's remark about a good book, 
"the precious life-blood of a mas- 
ter-spirit," 244. 

Minor morals, the, of high ethical im- 
portance, 20. 

"Miracles of Scripture," an essay by 
Dr. Newman, in 1873, 66 ; adduced 
as proof of the sanctity of the can- 
onized, T5. 

Miraculous story of Christ appearing 
to St. Elizabeth, St. Matilda, and St. 
Bridget, 146. 

Monastic forgeries of the Middle Ages, 
20T. 

"Monita Secreta," a fair exposure of 
the Society of Jesuits, 118, 240. 

Monkeys delighting the people under 
the powers of Father Anchieta, 91. 

Montpellier's, Bishop of, letter in the 



London Times on the absolute right 
of the Romish Church to teach man- 
kind, 187. 

Montreal, Guibord's funeral in, 117, 
243. 

Morals,. minor, the, of high ethical im- 
portance, 20 ; average standard of, 
lower in Catholic than in Protest- 
ant countries, 20. 

Mortara, Edgar, kidnaped, 181. 

Mythic and heroic ages of the Church, 
12. 

Nantes, Edict of, and its revocation, 

230. 
Napoleon Bonaparte's expression, 

"The Mediterranean is a French 

lake," 215. 
Napoleon III. and the Cave of 

Lourdes, 167. 
Neri, Filippo, canonization of, 71. 
"New Devotion" in France, organi- 
zation of a, 153 ; " Sinai," 154. 
Newman, Dr., remarks on, as a writ- 
er, 67 ; candor of, called in question, 

75. 
Newman's essays, written when he 

was still a Protestant, 66. 
Normandy robber, and his prayer to 

Mary, 140. 
"Notizie Biografiche dei Vercellesi II- 

lustri," by Carlo Dionisotti, 218. 
Nunquam fore, December 15th, 1856, 

39, 228. 
Nuns and friars in France, statistics 

of, 116. 
Nuytz, John Nepomucene, Professor 

in the University of Turino, 229. 

^^Obediendum esse soli Deo,^^ fear of the 
papacy that the people would adopt 
this rule, 230. 

Ordelaffi, aritjst and escape of, and his 
condemnation in contumaciam, at 
Rome, 220. 

Orders and decorations largely dis- 
tributed by the papacy, 203. 



304 



Index, 



Oropa, in Piedmont, the Virgin of, 

150. 
Orvieto, Cathedral of, the napkin, or 

corporate in, 49. 

Paleakio, Aonio, arrested in Tuscany, 

and hanged at Kome, 15T0, 220. 
Pantheismus, Naturalismus, et Ra- 

tionalismus Absolutus, 268. 
Papacy, the, claiming to be the legiti- 
mate successor and representative 

of the emperors of the West, 213. 
" Papstfabeln des Mittelalters," by 

Dollinger, 208. 
"Paradisus " of Heraclides, 42. 
Paray-le-Monial, pilgrimages to, 112. 
Pascal's " Provincial Letters," 99. 
Pastor JSternuSi the bull, remarks on, 

292. 
** Patrologise Cursus Completus," 1860, 

41. 
Paul the Hermit, legend of, 80. 
Pedro de Arbues, a holy man, 62. 
Pentecost, the vigil of, dishonored, 

138. 
Perigueux, Bishop of, and the duty 

that Christ has conferred upon the 

Church, 116. 
Perpetual Rosary of Mary, 161. 
Personality of Mary, 130. 
Peter the Great comparing himself 

with Louis XIV., 23T. 
Petroleum, and the fear it occasions, 

203. 
Photograph of the Virgin, St. Peter, 

the Father, and the Holy Spirit, 137. 
Pibrac, shepherdess of, the blessed 

Germaine Cousin, 162. 
Pilgrimage of 18T2, 159. 
Pius IX., two allocutions of, Acerbis- 

simum, of September, 1852, andNun- 

quam fore, of December, 1856, 39 ; 

his vain and puerile character, 122 ; 

the Romish Church under the reign 

of, 245. 
Plancius, Daniel, rector of the high 

school at Delft, 2T. 



Police, detective. King Ferdinand of 

Spain an excellent, 85. 
Policy of Rome at present cautious in 

Protestant countries, 291. 
Ponzetti, Monsignor, and the relic- 
purchaser, Dr. Di Lucia, anecdote 

of, 95. 
Pope, infallibility of the, translation 

of the bull of, 289. 
Portrait by St. Luke of the Madonna 

and Child, 148. 
Portugal and Spain remarkable for 

their devotion to the Virgin, 143; 

the bull establishing the Inquisition 

in, 211. 
Post-office for letters to the Virgin at 

Santiago, in Chili, 138. 
Potato-rot in the Isere, 163. 
Priests, the stultifying influences of 

the, 188 ; suppression of books by 

the, 241. 
Protestant, the name of, a bugbear, 

21. 
Punishment for transgressors by 

Mary, 138. 

Queen of Heaven, Abbe Nau's re- 
marks on, 121. 

Rationalismus Moderatas, 269. 
Real presence and transubstantiation, 

4T. 
Redeemer, the, assumed to be person- 
ated by Rome, 59. 
Reformed members of the Church of 

Rome increasing, 32. 
Relics cause a thriving trade to be 

done in Rome, 93. 
Religious freedom, equal, admitted as 

a political right, 39. 
Retribution well displayed to France 

by its revocation of the Edict of 

Nantes, 239. 
Rimini, the Virgin of, 150. 
Robber, a, at Trent, advised to fast 

every Saturday in honor of Mary, 

140. 



Index. 



305 



Romanism another name for Jesuit- 
ism, 18. 

Rome assuming the personation of the 
Redeemer in a corporate form, 57 ; 
Church of, notorious insincerity and 
frauds in the, 67 ; Church of, never 
performs any office gratis, 69; In- 
quisition at, 218. 

Romish hagiology under Pope Pius 
IX., 107 ; Church under the reign of 
Pius IX., 245. 

Rosweyde, the Jesuit, 17, 23. 

Rufinus, a presbyter of Aquileia, 40. 

Sace6 Cceuk, the devotees of, number- 
ing not fewer than twelve millions 
of members, 158. 

Sacred Heart, consecration of the, in 
Rome, 109 ; dedication of the Uni- 
versal Church to the cultus of the, 
293. 

" Sainte Barbe," a name bestowed by 
the French on naval powder maga- 
zines, 83. 

Saints' anniversaries, observance of 
them, 60, 61. 

Sakya-Mouni, divine founder of Bud- 
dhism, 44. 

Santa Lucia's miraculous vocation, 
82 ; Barbara, the patroness of ar- 
tillerists, 83 ; Ferma, a supposed 
martyr of an unmelodious name, 
95. 

Santiago, in Chili, burning of the Ca- 
thedral of, 138. 

** Santuario Mariano," the, 145. 

Saviour's, the, letter to a girl of St. 
Marcel, in France, 244. 

Scapulary, a sort of under -jacket of 
blue silk, 180. 

SchaflTs, Dr., remarks on the worship 
of the Greek Church, 126. 

Scholastic training less in America 
and Europe than in the Eastern 
countries, 184. 

Scholastically instructed classes, 19. 

Schools of the Sacred Heart, 116. 



Schools in the United States, the Ro- 
mish attack on the, 117. 

Scriptures, Christian, remarks about, 
by Protestants, 53 ; Romish oppo- 
sition to the translation of the, into 
modern languages, 229. 

Sectarian indifference of Christians, 
119. 

Semaine Eeligieuse^ and the signatures 
submitted to the pope, 109. 

Sicilian and Calabrian assassins, belief 
of the, 79. 

Sicily, total want of all security for 
life and property in, since 1865, 295. 

Sigismund, speech by, addressed to 
John Huss, 31. 

*' Silva Eremitarum ^gypti et Pales- 
tiuae," 24. 

"Sinai," the new, 154. 

Sitting at a stand lighted by three 
candles considered a graceful weak- 
ness, 195. 

Skepticism among the churches be- 
fore the time of Luther, 47. 

Socialismus, Commuuismus, Societa- 
tes Clandestinse, Societates Biblicae, 
Societates Clerico-liberales, 270. 

Society, present, and the characters 
composing the same, 192. 

Son of God made the slave of the 
voice of the priests, 48. 

Soubirans, Bernadette, and the 
Lourdes revelation, 168. 

Spain the birthplace of the founder of 
Jesuitism, 143. 

St. Alfonso de' Liguori, elevation to 
the rank of a doctor in the Church, 
293. 

St. Andrea Avellino, anecdote of, 84. 

St. Bernard's "Necessity of the Inter- 
cession of Mary," 133. 

St. Bridget, the miraculous story of 
Christ's appearing to, 146. 

St. Elizabeth, the miraculous story of 
Christ's appearing to, 146. 

St. Genevieve, pupils of the school of, 
115. 



306 



Index. 



St, Hilarion, legend of, SO. 

St. Liborius, and his efficacious treat- 
ment in stone and gravel, 82. 

St. Luke's portrait of the Madonna 

- and Child, 148. 

St. Marcel, Christ's miraculous com- 
munication to a girl of, 146, 244. 

St. Matilda, the miraculous story of 
Christ's appearing to, 146. 

St. Philomena, virgin and martyr, 92 ; 
homage to, in 18T2, 158. 

St. Raymond, sentence used in the 
canonization of, TO. 

St. Simon Stylita, sovereign in im- 
posthumes, 83. 

St. Ursula and her eleven thousand 
virgins, festival of, T6. 

St. Vincenzo Ferrer, wonderful heal- 
ing and speaking powers of, 84. 

St. Vitus and his miraculous cure, 
82. 

Standard, average moral, lower in 
Catholic than in Protestant coun- 
tries, 20. 

State religions, 177. 

Stigmata, the, or marks of the nails 
of the Crucifixion, miraculously 
impressed upon Louise Lateau, 
162. 

Straws from the dungeon mattress of 
the "Prisoner of the Vatican," in 
great demand, 93. 

Struggle between Rome and civiliza- 
tion, question of the present, 190. 

Stultifying influences of the priests, 
1S8. 

Submission of the clergy compelled 
by Peter the Great, 237. 

Substitution of the Mother for the 
Son in the Romish theological ideas 
of the Divinity, 137. 

Suffrage, universal, and the papacy, 
203. 

Superstitions, degrading, deplored by 
many Catholic ecclesiastics, 77. 

Suppression of books by the priests, 
240. 



Supremacy of the Romish Church af- 
firmed, 56. 

Syllabus and Encyclical of 1864, 259- 
289. 

"Theologia MoEALis," caudid expo- 
sition of, 132. 

Theotokos, picture of the, a sacred 
talisman with the Russian troops 
in the Crimean War, 125. 

Thiers's " Consulate and the Empire," 
165. 

Titles of the Virgin, 149 ; of nobility, 
largely distributed by the papacy, 
203. 

Torquemada, the famous Grand In- 
quisitor of the fifteenth century, 62. 

" Traite de Droit Ecclesiastique Uni- 
versel," by Nuytz, 229. 

Translation of the Scriptures into 
modern languages, Romish opposi- 
tion to the, 229. 

Transubstantiation and real presence, 
47. 

Treves, Holy Coat of, alleged to be of 
Christ's garments, 87. 

Tylor's, E. B., letter to the London 
Times on the eastward posture, 195. 

Unitd Cattolica of Rome, articles in, 
on the Sacred Heart, 293, 294. 

United States, the Romish attack upon 
the schools in, 117. 

Universal sufi'rage and the papacy, 
203. 

Valencia, dialect of, is truly apostolic, 
85. 

Vatican, the downfall of papacy is a 
just retribution to the persecutors 
in the, 240. 

"Vatican Decrees," the, and "Vati- 
canism," by Gladstone, 118. 

Vianney, Rev. Mr., Curate of Ars, in 

France, and his miracles, 98. 
I "Vie de Marie Alacoque," by Lau- 
I guet, Bishop of Soissons, 104. 



Index. 



307 



*' Vies des Saiuts," by Baillet, 60. 

*'Viudicia3 Kempenses" quoted as ar- 
gument in support of the claims of 
Thomas a Kempis, 25. 

Virgin Mary, historical origin of the 
devotion to, untraceable, 124 ; iden- 
tity of God with the, 135. 

Virgin, the titles of, 149 ; of Rimini, 
150 ; apparition of the, in 1846, to a 
boy and girl, 154; of La Salette, 
homage given to, in 18T2, 158; in 
1872, apparitions of the, 161 ; of 
Lourdes, 164; declaring herself to 
Bernadette Soubirans at Lourdes, 
ITl ; known as la Vierge de la Re- 
vanche, 174. 

Virgin's, the, reply to the letter of 
Messina, 129. 

Visitandines', the, great attention to 
manners, 120. 



"Vitse Patrum, sive Historiae Ere- 

meticae," 11. 
" Vitae Sanctarura Virginum," 24. 
"Vitas Patrum," Caxton's translation 

of, 41. 

Ward, Artemtjs, a phrase of, quoted 
as characteristic of M. de Geroal's 
letter, 243. 

Water of Lourdes, the, exportation of, 
170. 

Women's rights required to be ac- 
knowledged, 204. 

Wycliffe, and the denunciation of his 
heresies, 226. 

Wyclifte's denunciations of the " False 
Decretals" as atrocious forgeries, 
211. 

Xaviee, Francis, canonization of, 27. 



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